Jayhawks show Bill Self they’re ‘tough’ in 81-76 come-from-behind win over Vols
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- Kansas rallied from a 12-point deficit to beat No. 17 Tennessee, 81-76, in Las Vegas.
- Melvin Council Jr. led with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists in 39 minutes.
- Victory secured an extra $300,000 NIL payout for Kansas and showcased team toughness.
Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball coach Bill Self walked from the MGM Grand Garden Arena court to the post-game handshake line with an arm draped around the shoulders of senior guard Melvin Council Jr.
The final horn had just sounded in the Jayhawks’ 81-76 come-from-behind Players Era tournament victory on Wednesday over No. 17 Tennessee.
KU’s 23rd year coach, who moments later would have bottles of water emptied over his head by several of his players inside a giddy locker room, had some glowing words for one of the key players in the Jayhawks’ third win at this tourney in as many days.
“I think he said, ‘I’m a bad man,’ something along those lines,” Council said with a smile after scoring 17 points with six rebounds, four assists and two blocks while playing 39 minutes.
The Rochester, New York native has taken on some huge additional responsibilities in the absence of injured guard Darryn Peterson, who on Wednesday sat out his sixth straight game.
“I was built for these moments,” Council said. “My life has been consistent. I try to do it in practice every day and practice like we play, so that’s what I do.”
Self reiterated what Council recalled in the jubilant post-victory locker-room celebration.
“He was a bad man this tournament,” Self told reporters gathered outside the locker room.
Yes, Self was mighty pleased with the Jayhawks, who improved to 6-2 after beating Notre Dame, Syracuse and Tennessee in successive days here in Nevada.
“I’ve complained about us being soft. Today we were tough,” Self said in comments heard over the loudspeaker by the fans during his interview with TNT right after the game.
There were no trophies to be handed out after a contest in which the eight Jayhawks who played battled back from a 12-point deficit with 15:49 remaining. That’s because the KU-Tennessee contest was billed as the third-place game of the 18-team tourney.
KU and Tennessee went 2-0 through the first two rounds of the event but were denied admission into the title game because Michigan and Gonzaga had a larger point differential through their two games.
“I’m mad that we didn’t compete for the championship because I feel like, OK, the point differential, but I feel like we had a chance to play for the title, extra money in our pockets,” Council said. “But God is good, so we’ve got a chance to play for third place, and it’s free money, so I’m not mad about that.
“And Christmas is on the way. The guys are happy about that.”
The victory means KU’s NIL coffers will grow not by just the $1 million awarded to every participating team, but that plus another $300,000 — which goes to the winners of the third-place game. Tennessee players were to receive an extra $200,000. The title-game winner receives an extra $1 million and the second place team an extra $500,000.
“I am. We are (upset at being relegated to the third-place game),” KU forward Flory Bidunga said after scoring 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting with seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists in 37 minutes.
“I think we were ready if we did play. My Kansas team will be ready to do so. It is what it is. I’m glad we were here and did what we were supposed to do.”
Bidunga grinned when asked about the players dumping water on their coach.
“He deserved it. All that talk he’s been giving us in the locker room, yeah we got back at him,” Bidunga said.
The Jayhawks were able to beat a previously undefeated Tennessee team despite the fact that guard Tre White (14 points, six rebounds) fouled out with 8:23 to play and KU trailing by three.
Elmarko Jackson, who had a career high 17 points with four rebounds in 27 minutes, scored 11 straight points for KU in a stretch in which the Jayhawks erased a 53-41 deficit courtesy of a 15-3 run.
“He (Jackson) was due,” said sophomore Jayhawks guard Jamari McDowell, who hit two big 3-pointers and scored seven points with two steals in 28 minutes. McDowell was making his second straight start, taking over for Kohl Rosario, who came off the bench to score five points with two assists in 14 minutes.
“Like Coach said in the locker room, we’ve been his two favorite players the past two weeks, so I knew he was due. It was time,” McDowell said.
Jackson’s previous high scoring game was against Wichita State his freshman year. He had 12 points.
“Coach has just been harping on us to just keep playing no matter the circumstance, and it’s just what we did,” Jackson said. “I’m just happy to have a group of guys around me that believe in me and trust me to make plays for themselves and me.”
Of KU’s comeback, Self said: “The biggest thing is you look at it, hey, Melvin and Elmarko the last 10 minutes of the game were both pretty darn good. They got downhill and they got fouled, and that’s something we should be able to play to that we haven’t done a good job of late, or up until this point, but hopefully that will give us some confidence playing that way later.”
Self said Jackson “had about as bad a three-minute stretch the end of the first half a guy could have and he flipped it, which to me showed some toughness and everything because we went in down seven. He missed a layup and threw it to them for a basket and had another bad play.
“To me, it just says that maybe that was the icebreaker that takes the lid off the cover, so to speak, and maybe he can start playing a little bit freer. Because he played free the second half, and he hadn’t done that all year long.”
Pleased to be headed home with three victories, Self joined his players in wishing his squad had a chance to play for a trophy in their third game of the tourney.
“It’s been a good tournament for us,” Self said. “The matchups have been good for us, different styles. It’s a first-class event, and obviously the national media has treated it like it’s the premier basketball event so far this year, which I think is true.
“The format to me is fine, but the format can be tweaked, I think. You can still go by point differential, but you can’t penalize teams for going 2-0. Everybody should get a piece of it, even if only four played the last day, in my opinion. But it’s first-class. This thing is going to continue to grow and get better.”
KU will next meet UConn at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
