Udoka Azubuike comes through with monster game in KU’s 77-69 win over West Virginia

Three powerful frontcourt players off Kansas’ 2008 NCAA championship team gathered in the basketball locker room immediately after the Jayhawks’ 77-69 come-from-behind victory over West Virginia on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

“We had Shady (Darrell Arthur) in there, had Sasha (Kaun) and had Cole (Aldrich) in there. Those are three pretty good bigs. There were only a handful of games those bigs played better than what Udoka did tonight,” KU coach Bill Self said after 7-foot sophomore Udoka Azubuike’s 21-point, 5-rebound, 3-block and 2-steal outing.

“Shady getting 20 and 10 in the national championship game still probably trumps it. I still think Doke was pretty good,” Self added after the 13th-ranked Jayhawks improved to 21-6 overall and 10-4 in the Big 12.

KU moved into a tie for first place in the league standings, courtesy of the victory and Texas Tech’s 59-57 loss to Baylor. No. 20 West Virginia fell to 19-8, 8-6.

Self spoke with Azubuike as he exited the floor after hitting 7 of 8 shots and 7 of 10 — yes 7 of 10 — free throws.

“I told him that if I was a (boxing) referee and had him next to me, I’d have raised his arm up and say he was the champion tonight,” Self said. “I thought he was great. I thought he was terrific. He played with energy. He stayed out of foul trouble. That was a big-boy game for him. It was one of his better ones for sure.”

Azubuike had 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks while playing 17 minutes in the final half as KU battled back from a 12-point deficit in the final 10:18.

He hit 5 of 7 free throws after halftime. He scored six points (including 2 of 2 from the line) in a 22-8 run that turned a 58-46 deficit into a 68-66 lead at 1:41. He also blocked a shot by Daxter Miles, who had 22 points, with 12 seconds left and KU up 70-66.

That led to Devonté Graham — who had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists — grabbing the rebound and pitching ahead to Malik Newman, who scored at :09 to make the score 72-66. And that block led to West Virginia coach Bob Huggins being called for a pair of technicals and getting ejected. Graham hit three straight free throws to open an even wider lead.

Huggins said after the game he was miffed at a free-throw discrepancy that had KU making 26 of 35 charities to West Virginia’s 1 of 2.

“Before the game, our coaches were like, ‘Man this has to be your game. You have to go out and dominate the game,’ ” Azubuike said.

West Virginia big man Sagaba Konate had nine points, six rebounds and three blocks in 25 minutes.

“When I came out at the end of the game, they (KU coaches) said, ‘You did pretty good. You did great,’ ” Azubuike added.

Azubuike said he entered knowing it was a huge game for the Jayhawks. ESPN GameDay was in town, and so was former KU center Aldrich, who had his No. 45 jersey hung in the fieldhouse rafters at halftime. Aldrich was one of several members of the 2008 NCAA title team also in town for a 10-year title reunion.

“It’s a big game playing against West Virginia,” Azubuike said. “They are a good team. They play an up-tempo game. They have high intensity and want to win like we do.”

Azubuike finished the game as a 44.7 percent free throw shooter and 76.9 percent marksman overall from the field.

“Rick Barry still doesn’t come to mind,” Self said of Azubuike’s free-throw shooting. “He’s worked on them really hard. Even his misses look a lot better and his technique is better. He has some things to become a good free-throw shooter (but) he has made a lot of positive strides.”

Azubuike’s teammates gave him plenty of credit for the victory.

“He was 7 of 10. He went crazy,” Graham said with a smile of Azubuike’s free-throw shooting.

“I have confidence in my free throws,” Azubuike said. “I have been working on my free throws, doing the same thing every time. I’m pretty confident.”

West Virginia, which was outscored 31-11 in the last 10 minutes, hit 14 of 26 threes to KU’s 7 of 22. Overall, KU hit 46.8 percent of its shots to the Mountaineers’ 44.3 percent.

Lagerald Vick and Newman joined Azubuike and Graham as double-digit KU scorers with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Svi Mykhailiuk had nine points, including the two free throws that gave KU a 68-66 advantage with 1:41 left. Those charities followed a big three by Newman that tied the score at 66-66 with 2:07 to play.

The Mountaineers were picked to win the game by ESPN GameDay announcers Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams, who made that prognostication during the 10 a.m. GameDay special at the fieldhouse. Jay Bilas wasn’t asked for his prediction because he was to serve as commentator for the game.

As far as the other added extra to the evening, KU’s 2008 NCAA title team (Aldrich, Arthur, Sherron Collins, Kaun, Matt Kleinmann, Tyrel Reed, Conner Teahan, Jeremy Case and Brennan Bechard, as well as director of basketball Ronnie Chalmers) was introduced to the crowd during a timeout at 11:40 and West Virginia up 18-13. KU returned to the court and used a 6-0 run to grab a 19-18 advantage at 9:37.

At halftime, the 29-year-old Aldrich took out his temporary front tooth during his introduction to the fans, drawing laughter from the 16,300 fans in the house.

Then, after Aldrich’s jersey was unveiled in the rafters, he gave a short speech that included the sentiment, “It feels great to be home. Walking into the fieldhouse this morning brought back so many memories. … Now seeing my name in the rafters, it’s humbling, really humbling.”

He thanked family members and former teammates, singling out Self and teammate Collins, who will have his own jersey hung in the rafters at halftime of Monday’s 8 p.m. home game against Oklahoma.

Of that game, Self said: “If you don’t take care of business Monday this doesn’t mean much tonight. It puts us in position; we’re still in the game. It was a huge win for us.”

Notes

West Virginia converted 1 free throw in 2 attempts. KU’s last conference opponent to hit just one free throw was K-State (Feb. 22, 1992). The one make was the fewest by any KU opponent since Winston-Salem State cashed one on Dec. 19, 2006. The two attempts were the fewest by a KU foe since Iowa State attempted two on Feb. 12, 2011. … Devonté Graham tied a career high with eight rebounds. He had eight against Baylor on Jan. 20, 2018. … West Virginia’s 14 three-pointers tied Arizona State for most threes by a KU foe this season. It’s the most threes by a conference opponent since Iowa State hit 18 on Feb. 4, 2017.

This story was originally published February 17, 2018 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Udoka Azubuike comes through with monster game in KU’s 77-69 win over West Virginia."