De Sousa’s career-high 10 points, 6 rebounds help KU crush Oklahoma 104-74

Silvio De Sousa glanced at fellow Kansas big man Mitch Lightfoot’s left hand as he checked into the KU-Oklahoma game in the first half Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I saw Mitch. He wrote on his wrist, ‘rebounding and defense.’ I took that as motivation. I went out and did it on the court,” said De Sousa, KU’s 6-foot-9, 245-pound freshman forward out of IMG Academy.

De Sousa, a seldom-used big man, scored a career-high 10 points and grabbed a career-best six rebounds in a career-most 13 minutes in the Jayhawks’ 104-74 victory over the Sooners. The victory gave No. 8 KU (22-6, 11-4) a half-game lead over Texas Tech in the Big 12 race. The Red Raiders (22-5, 10-4) travel to Oklahoma State on Wednesday before playing host to KU at 3:15 p.m. Saturday in Lubbock, Texas.

“You know, when I got in the game, I didn’t foul. I got the first rebound and told myself, ‘I”m going to play a lot tonight,’ ” said De Sousa.

He scored four points and had two rebounds while logging 7 minutes as KU led 49-39 at the break. De Sousa’s previous high in minutes for a game had been 7 on Jan. 15 at West Virginia.

“I will keep that mind-set and move on,” De Sousa added of trying to defend and hit the boards.

He scored six points, including two off a lob from Svi Mykhailiuk in an 11-2 run that gave the Jayhawks a 20-point advantage at 77-57 with 11:11 left.

The fans roared not only at De Sousa’s dunk, but two free throws that he swished in that run. He hit all three shots from the floor and all four free throws Monday.

“I am going to talk about my free throws,” De Sousa said good-naturedly in front of a dozen media members after the game. “I think I’m a good free-throw shooter (83.3 percent). I tell my coach, ‘If I go to the line, my percentage is going to be 100 percent.’ That’s what it is today.”

Of the lob dunk, De Sousa said: “I think it was great. Sometimes in practice I don’t catch those lobs. Today I did. It felt good to do it in a game. It’s a lot different from practice.”

Perhaps for the first time in 10 games since he arrived from IMG Academy in late December, De Sousa appeared comfortable on the court for the Jayhawks.

“I see things a lot slower now,” the Angola native said. “The first day I got here, I was seeing the ball move around and didn’t know what to do. Now I can control the ball, catch a pass from Devonté (Graham, who exploded for 23 points with seven assists and five rebounds while holding Oklahoma star Trae Young to a season-low 11 points).

“I’m getting used to it,” De Sousa added of college.

Senior guard Graham said De Sousa “gave us great minutes. Coach (Bill Self) said in the locker room his attitude has been great even though he hasn’t been playing that much. He was huge for us.”

Self said simply that De Sousa “was great. He’s had a great attitude the whole time he’s been here. He struggled. He was frustrated. The game was too fast for him. We put him in a tough situation.

“I thought it’d be Feb. 1 before he’d really be able to impact us. It didn’t really work out that way. It’s taken him a little extra time. Tonight he was poised. He took his time on the post.”

Self recalled that De Sousa had three turnovers in 1 minute in KU’s loss at Oklahoma on Jan. 23.

“It’s night and day,” Self said. “You could see it coming in practice, but it was so good to see. He made a couple of really nice plays when he had the guy 1-on-1 in the post.”

Graham said he tried to fire up De Sousa when he entered early in the second half after Azubuike — who had 10 points, eight boards, three blocks and three steals in 18 minutes — picked up a third foul.

“I actually told him in the huddle once Doke got his third foul that, ‘We’re going to need some big minutes out of you,’ ” Graham said.

“He came out and played hard. I’m happy for him,” Graham added, “because it’s hard to come in as a freshman in the middle of the season and learn as much as he’s learned as fast as he’s learned it. I’m happy for him, the way he played tonight.”

Self made a point to congratulate De Sousa in the locker room and tell the squad that Silvio’s had a “great attitude.”

“He messes up,” Graham said, “coaches take him out and he still has a good attitude, cheering us on and all that.”

De Sousa said he’s been active on the bench by design.

“The key I used to not lose my confidence was on the bench. Whenever my teammates make a shot, I was going to clap,” he said. “That’s how I get my motivation up.”

The question now: Can he keep this up?

“Of course,” the confident De Sousa said. “I am going to keep the pace up, do everything I can.

“I’m not sure that’s all they want to see,” he added of putting down lob dunks as he did off the second-half feed from Mykhailiuk. “I promise they will see rebounds, defense.”

KU on Monday made sure Sherron Collins’ jersey retirement celebration was as festive and memorable as his buddy Cole Aldrich’s ceremony over the weekend. The Jayhawks hit 16 of 29 threes to Oklahoma’s 5 of 19.

Graham’s big night included five three-pointers in 11 tries, which vaulted him past Billy Thomas into second place on KU’s all-time three-point list. Graham entered the game with 265 threes to Thomas’ 269. Graham’s seven assists left him one shy of Collins for ninth place on KU’s all-time list (551).

Malik Newman had 20 points and five assists as KU prevented Oklahoma from becoming the first team to sweep the regular-season series against KU.

“The only thing on our mind was getting payback,” Newman said. “We went down there and they stole one from us (an 85-80 win in which Oklahoma fouled Azubuike on purpose down the stretch. “We wanted to have high energy, a great attitude, go out and have fun.”

Oklahoma freshman Young, one of the leading candidates for national player of the year, was held in check early by a KU defense that blocked three of his shots before he recorded his first bucket of the game.

He had four points at halftime on 1-of-6 shooting and finished with a season-low 11 points on 3 of 13 from the field (1 of 5 from three) with nine assists and five turnovers in 35 minutes. Young scored 26 points in that win over KU in Norman.

“They did a good job. They’ve got good athletes. Their big guys did a good job contesting the shots at the rim he had,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said of KU’s defense on the 6-2 Young.

“Good team defense. They did a good job.”

Jersey retirement

Collins, who sat next to Aldrich during the game, had his jersey hung in the south rafters in a halftime ceremony. Collins’ voice cracked as he acknowledged his mom, who attended, as well as other family members.

“I’d like to thank the best fans in America. Thank you for allowing me to come and bring joy to the fieldhouse and feed off you guys,” Collins said in his speech.

He spent the second half traveling to different parts of the arena during timeouts, shaking hands and posing for selfies with fans.

Notes

▪ Former KU guard Josh Jackson of the Phoenix Suns returned to Lawrence for part of the NBA All-Star break and attended the game.

▪ Fans brought some signs for the next-to-last home game. They included: @TraeUScared; Birds are neat, not Trae Young; Hi my name is Trae and I’m going to lose today; Stick to football; Udoka will you marry me?.

▪ ESPN’s Dick Vitale strolled into the student section in the south end zone before the game and posed for selfies.

▪ Kruger sat in the lower level of the southeast corner bleachers for about a half hour before the game. Unlike most coaches, he usually enters the arena well before introductions.

▪ Gracen Gueldner, daughter of former KU player Jeff Gueldner, sang the national anthem.

No. 8 KANSAS 104, OKLAHOMA 74

This story was originally published February 19, 2018 at 10:24 PM with the headline "De Sousa’s career-high 10 points, 6 rebounds help KU crush Oklahoma 104-74."