Svi Mykhailiuk scores 26 points in KU's 109-64 rout of Omaha

Svi Mykhailiuk has been shooting lights-out at home during his senior season at Kansas.

“I mean, we practice here every day. I’ve been here four years. I think it’s kind of easy at home, not easy, but you feel better shooting at home,” Mykhailiuk, KU’s 6-foot-8 shooting guard from Cherkasy, Ukraine, said after hitting a career-high-tying six three-pointers in seven attempts and scoring 26 points in the Jayhawks’ 109-64 rout of Omaha on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

“It’s good to see shots go down, especially here,” added Mykhailiuk, who for the season has cashed 28 of 47 threes at Allen for 59.6 percent. Toss out a 3 for 11 performance against Arizona State and he’s made 69.4 percent of his threes in seven games at Allen. He’s made 10 of 32 threes outside the building for 31.3 percent.

“You get the ball to go down, you keep shooting,” Mykhailiuk said of his philosophy. Overall he knocked down 10 of 13 shots against the Mavericks (3-11) two days after hitting 2 of 7 threes and 6 of 16 shots overall en route to 14 points in a one-point win at Nebraska.

He had the biggest shot of the game at Nebraska — a three from the corner with 21 seconds left that erased a two-point deficit and gave KU a 73-72 victory over the Cornhuskers.

“It felt great to make the game-winning shot,” Mykhailiuk said when asked which of his accomplishments in the last three days felt better — hitting the game-winner against the Huskers or finishing one point shy of his career high of 27 on Monday.

“We did not want to lose three in a row. That felt great,” he said of the shot in Lincoln, which helped the Jayhawks snap a two-game losing streak.

Now, thanks to a pair of wins over two teams from Nebraska in a three-day span, KU (9-2) will take a two-game winning streak into Thursday’s 10 p.m. game against Stanford in Sacramento, Calif.

“I think when the ball goes in, obviously you look good,” KU coach Bill Self said when asked about Mykhailiuk. “His balance and things … he probably was a little hesitant shooting it the last couple of weeks. I’m sure that shot at Nebraska probably gave him some confidence.

“I think he’s always capable of making shots. He’s a terrific shooter. Did I see it coming? I’d say I saw him being more confident after the Nebraska game, so …” Self added, his voice trailing off.

KU sophomore guard Malik Newman, who missed all six of his shots at Nebraska, scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting (2 of 6 threes) Monday with four assists and four rebounds.

“I thought he was aggressive for the most part looking for his shot,” Self said of Newman, a Mississippi State transfer. “I still wish he’d get rid of the ball in transition rather than want to bounce it all the time. All he has to do is pitch ahead.”

Sophomore transfer Sam Cunliffe, who also went scoreless at Nebraska in his 2-minute KU debut, scored nine points on 4-of-9 shooting against Omaha. He was 1 of 3 from three on a night KU made 16 of 27 three-pointers to Omaha’s 9 of 28. KU hit 62.3 percent of its shots overall to the Mavs’ 33.3 percent.

“I thought Sam was a little thirsty,” Self said of Cunliffe looking for his own offense. “When he’s in the game, we want him to be aggressive. We want him to be a ball mover too. It was good to see him out there. If he can give us favorable minutes (20 on Monday) it takes some minutes down for everybody else. It did feel like we were a deeper team today even with just eight (scholarship players).”

Walk-on James Sosinski, a tight end on KU’s football team who joined the basketball team before the Washington loss on Dec. 6, had an active final 4 minutes He scored four points and grabbed two rebounds in his hoops debut.

“James is our best low post defender on Doke (Udoka Azubuike, who had a career-high-tying 12 boards with 11 points), no question,” Self said. “He can put a body on him and foul him (at practice).”

Also for KU, Devonté Graham had 17 points, eight assists and two turnovers, and Lagerald Vick added 15 points and nine rebounds. Marcus Garrett had five rebounds and four points for KU.

KU went 7 of 9 from the free-throw line, while Omaha was11 of 17.

“It’s ridiculous how few times we get to the free-throw line,” Self said.

“It would be nice if we get Billy (Preston) and Silvio (De Sousa) obviously. That would give this team a different look,” Self added.

Self had no update on 6-10 freshman Preston, who has yet to play in a game this season as KU looks into the financial picture surrounding a car he’s been driving on campus. De Sousa, a 6-9 senior from IMG Academy, will graduate Dec. 22, Self said. There’s a chance he could arrive at KU shortly after. Self did say Preston and De Sousa were not expected to be available for the Stanford game.

“We feel really good, really good,” Self said, when asked if De Sousa fared well on the standardized test he took a couple of weeks ago. De Sousa reportedly received the score on Friday. De Sousa must be cleared by the NCAA clearinghouse before he can play for KU. It has been suggested a possible debut date for De Sousa could be the Texas game on Dec. 29 in Austin if he’s cleared by then.

No. 14 KANSAS 109, NEBRASKA-OMAHA 64

This story was originally published December 18, 2017 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Svi Mykhailiuk scores 26 points in KU's 109-64 rout of Omaha."