Azubuike's free-throw misses pivotal in 85-80 loss to Sooners

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self spoke to a despondent Udoka Azubuike in a somber losers locker room on Tuesday night at Lloyd Noble Center.

“Yeah, he’s upset. He’s upset. He’s pretty upset,” Self, Kansas’ 15th-year coach said of the 7-foot sophomore center, who bricked six free throws during crunch time of an 85-80 loss to Oklahoma.

Azubuike was fouled on purpose by Oklahoma’s Matt Freeman, who fouled out in 2 minutes while taking part in Sooners coach Lon Kruger’s Hack-A-Doke (or is it Hack-A-Buike?) strategy, which worked to perfection in helping the Sooners improve to 15-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big 12. KU fell to 16-4, 6-2.

“(I told him), ‘You’re gonna be in the situation again. You know … work on them. Let’s work on them. Let’s figure it out,’ ” Self said of his postgame chat with Azubuike, who hit 1 of 8 free throws and scored nine points with six rebounds in 22 minutes.

“I just hope … who was the pitcher? Rick Ankiel? I just hope I didn’t put him in a situation (like that),” Self added. Rick Ankiel was a big-league pitcher who developed the yips in trying to deliver a pitch to the plate.

“I really thought he’d make them,” Self continued. “I didn’t think he’d make every one. I thought he’d make 50 percent of ‘em.”

Instead, Azubuike, a 38.1 percent free thrower (24 of 63), missed them all during crunch time.

He missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3:37 left and KU leading 78-76. After Rashard Odomes made one of two at 3:23 to cut the gap to 78-77, Azubuike missed another front end.

Oklahoma committed a turnover and Azubuike again was sent to the line, and missed two free throws at 2:53. KU still led 78-77 when after a turnover, Lagerald Vick dunked to give the Jayhawks an 80-77 lead at 2:19.

Trae Young (26 points, nine assists, five turnovers and four rebounds in 40 minutes) then hit two free throws at 2:10 to cut the gap to 80-79. Azubuike missed two more free throws at 1:56, Freeman fouling out to the roar of 11,726 fans. On an ensuing possession, Azubuike actually stood in the corner away from the action as Devonté Graham (11 points, 4-of-19 shooting, nine assists and seven rebounds in 40 minutes) misfired.

Christian James followed with what turned out to be the game-winning three from the corner, giving Oklahoma a 82-80 lead at 1:05. After a Svi Mykhailiuk (24 points) miss, Brady Manek canned a three with 26 seconds left to effectively end the contest.

“I think he’ll (Azubuike) bounce back pretty well,” KU senior Graham said after telling the media that he told his teammates he blamed himself (not Azubuike) for the loss after missing 15 of 19 shots.

“Right now it probably will mess with him a little. He’ll get in the gym, probably shoot a lot of free throws. He’s just got to focus and move onto the next one.”

Self blamed himself for the setback.

“It was obviously the wrong thing to do to win this game and hopefully it doesn’t hurt him moving forward,” Self said of keeping Azubuike in the game where he could be fouled on purpose. “I’ve always been a big believer that you send a bad message to somebody (that) you don’t have confidence in him especially when you know he’ll have to play every big minute pushing forward.

“It was a bad decision on me for this game. If I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I may have done it differently,” Self added. “I’ve never believed that you take out one of your best players because you show him you don’t have confidence in him. I kept him in there. Even that being said, they made two threes late. We didn’t switch the ball screen late. That’s what iced the game.”

Self said during the heat of the action he, “asked him (Azubuike) if he wanted to be in there. He said, ‘Oh yeah.’ ”

Self said he also looked down to the Sooners’ bench after he realized the Hack-a-Doke was taking place.

“As soon as Lon (Kruger) fouled him the first time I looked down there and laughed,” Self said. “He (Kruger) didn’t laugh but his son (Kevin, assistant) definitely laughed. What did he miss three front ends and a two-shot foul? I could have taken him out. I just …. ” Self added, not completing the thought.

Self said credited Kruger for “a great strategy to to that with Udoka. Billy (Gillispie, former Texas A&M coach) did that to me with Sasha Kaun once. I was so mad at him (his good buddy Gillispie) after the game. I said, ‘You believe in your defense. You just told your guys you didn’t think you can guard us.’ He missed both free throws. They won the game. It was a good decision then and good decision today.”

The bottom line of keeping Azubuike in the game?

“This one will sting with him because he cares so much. I think he’ll respond favorably from it,” Self said “Who knows if this will end up being something positive down the road because maybe he’ll focus and concentrate, work on it harder because he didn’t like how this felt. Maybe if he works harder on it and gets better on it in a pressure situation he’ll shoot a higher percentage. To win one game, I certainly did not do our team any favors to win one game. Over the course of time, that remains to be seen.”

The victory was Oklahoma’s 13th straight at Noble Center. The Sooners, who trailed by as many as 10 points with 9:25 left, snapped KU’s 10-game road winning streak, which included wins in eight straight conference road games.

KU at 6-2 now leads four teams by one game in the league race. Oklahoma, Texas Tech, West Virginia and Kansas State are 5-3. KU will next meet Texas A&M in the Big 12/SEC Challenge at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

No. 12 OKLAHOMA 85, No. 5 KANSAS 80

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 8:31 PM with the headline "Azubuike's free-throw misses pivotal in 85-80 loss to Sooners."