Pizza-lover Mykhailiuk jokes with Graham after KU Senior Night speeches
A Senior Night after-party broke out after Clay Young, Svi Mykhailiuk and Devonté Graham delivered speeches to 16,300 fans on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse.
The three Jayhawks, who combined for 27 points, 14 assists and and seven rebounds in an 80-70 victory over a shorthanded Texas team that was without Mo Bamba, Eric Davis and Andrew Jones, completed their media responsibilities, then returned to the fieldhouse floor to visit with family members and friends gathered in the lower-level southwest bleachers.
After that, the families headed to various local restaurants — Svi, his girlfriend, his mom and dad had an after-midnight meal at Perkins — to continue visiting about KU’s 14th-straight Big 12 title, while also sharing stories about the players’ years in Lawrence.
Perhaps the best tale of the night?
“When Svi first got here, the only thing he ate was pizza,” KU point guard Graham said of shooting guard Mykhailiuk, who arrived from Ukraine as a 16-year-old in the summer of 2014. “In his room, he wouldn’t throw the pizza boxes away. He’d stack them up. He would have 15 pizza boxes stacked up higher than the door. It was just unbelievably gross.
"I was telling him, ‘You’ve got to eat something other than pizza. When you do, you’ve got to throw it away,’ ’’ Graham added, laughing.
Continuing the light banter, Mykhailiuk, who roomed with Graham for two years, acknowledged that his buddy, “helped me learn English, all the slang words. He’d take me everywhere. He didn’t help me with homework, though.”
The first slang word taught to Svi by his Raleigh, N.C., roommate?
“What’s up?” Mykhailiuk said, smiling. " 'What’s up’ is the first one.
"He helped me with clothes too,” he added of fashion assistance.
While accepting the fact, “I was a good teacher,” Graham joked that he helped Mykhailiuk with “his swag, definitely with his swag.”
Mykhailiuk says he’s sure he picked the right person to educate him about life in the U.S.
“He’s always smiling. People love his personality. Everybody knows him on campus,” Mykhailiuk said. “I usually go to class with him. He’s always talking to people.”
Graham was credited for using his skills of persuasion on coach Bill Self, who after being approached by Graham, agreed to let the Jayhawks wear red uniforms Monday for the first time in a long time.
“I think I saw a highlight of ‘em wearing red. It just looked good. I asked coach if we could get ‘em,” Graham said of red uniforms for the 2017-18 home finale. “I had to go through a little process, here, there. He said he would do it.
“He’s a little superstitious,” Graham added. “He really didn’t want to do it. We played well Saturday in Lubbock (in a 74-72 victory that clinched a tie for the league title). I asked if we could wear them Senior Night. He said, ‘Yeah we better play well in them.’ ”
Before Monday, KU actually last wore red uniforms in a 62-50 exhibition victory over Washburn on Nov. 5, 2012, at Allen Fieldhouse. The last time KU wore red in the regular season was in an 84-58 home victory over North Dakota on Dec. 31, 2011.
“I’m not a fan of red at all,” Self said in explaining his version of the Graham story, “but adidas got us some red uniforms because No. 4 (Graham) said that was one thing he wanted before he left here was to wear a red uniform. We didn’t get them (from adidas) until after conference play started.
“Of course I wasn’t going to wear ‘em and not play well because of our uniforms, obviously,” Self cracked.
“This was the last game we could do it. I told him we better win. Red has not been great for Kansas over time. The first time Larry (Brown, former KU coach) wore them was the Final Four in Dallas (1986, semifinal loss to Duke). It hasn’t really been great. I’m glad we were able to pull it out.”
The frivolity surrounding walk-on Young came when Self teased him for telling the fans in his Senior Night speech that he phoned his mom his sophomore season to inform her about assistant coach Kurtis Townsend yelling at him at practice.
“I think the story got misconstrued a little bit,” Young, a former Lansing High standout, said with a smile. “I think I didn’t call her specifically to tell her this coach was on me every day. I think it was in conversation.
“Coach T said he was a little upset with that comment. He was messing with me though,” Young added, smiling.
Self obviously was pleased with the seniors' performance Monday, including that of walk-on Young, who had an assist in his four-minute stint. Young, who made his first career start, left with the score deadlocked at 8-8.
“You could say Devonté (10 points, 11 assists, four rebounds, four turnovers and one steal in 40 minutes) and Svi (17 points, three rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes) kind of carried us. The reality is Marcus Garrett and Doke (Udoka Azubuike) may have been our two best players in the game tonight,” Self said.
Freshman guard Garrett scored 11 points (all in the final half) with four rebounds, three assists and three steals in 25 minutes. Azubuike scored 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting (0 for 4 from the line) with eight rebounds and five blocks in 21 minutes.
“Doke played great except for one statistic. I mean he went backwards in that area. That’s obviously a concern,” Self said of the free throws. “He was good offensively other than that. He was active blocking shots. It was about as active as I’ve seen him. Marcus was great late.”
KU will conclude the regular season Saturday in a 3 p.m. tip at Oklahoma State.
Tuesday recruiting
Self on Tuesday was to visit Matthew Hurt, a 6-9, 200-pound junior forward from John Marshall High in Rochester, Minn., Rivals.com and 247sports.com reported.
Hurt is the No. 5-rated player in the recruiting class of 2019 according to Rivals.com. He also is considering North Carolina, Minnesota and others.
This story was originally published February 27, 2018 at 8:33 PM with the headline "Pizza-lover Mykhailiuk jokes with Graham after KU Senior Night speeches."