Oklahoma State stuns KU in front of ex-players: 'I think we failed those guys today'

Oklahoma State’s basketball players spoiled a heck of a party Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse.

The unheralded Cowboys, who hadn’t won a true road game all season, stunned No. 7 Kansas 84-79 in front of a crowd of 16,300 that included about 200 former KU players, coaches and staff members on hand for the Jayhawks’ 120 years of basketball reunion weekend.

“Hopefully the guys that came back … it won’t take away from them enjoying their teammates and stuff,” KU coach Bill Self said after his team — which finished the first half of the Big 12 Conference season in sole possession of first place — fell to 18-5 overall and 7-3 in the league. Oklahoma State, which started the day tied for eighth in the 10-team league, improved to 14-9 and 4-6.

“Obviously it takes from the day, not playing better,” Self added, noting he’d still “have a good attitude and enjoy the camaraderie of all the guys coming back,” at the evening’s banquet at the Jayhawk Club in West Lawrence.

The Jayhawks trailed by as many as 18 points in the first half and 13 at halftime, quieting a crowd that included the likes of former KU players Luke Axtell, Scooter Barry, Cris Barnthouse, Nick Bradford, Jeff Carey, John Crider, Jeff Dishman, Mark Ewing, Tony Guy, Jeff Hawkins, Bill Heitholt, Jeff Gueldner, David Johanning, Clint Johnson, Elijah Johnson, Monte Johnson, Ron Kellogg, Matt Kleinmann, Ken Koenigs, Keith Langford, Bill Lienhard, Al Lopes, David Magley, Brian Martin, Roger Morningstar, Tyke Peacock, T.J. Pugh, Tyrel Reed, Patrick Richey, Dave Robisch, Tyler Self, Wayne Simien, Bud Stallworth, Rick Suttle, Conner Teahan, Billy Thomas, Darnell Valentine, Jerry Waugh, Walt Wesley, Chris Zerbe and many others.

They — as well as former KU coaches Ted Owens and Larry Brown and former assistant Lafayette Norwood — had to be horrified at Oklahoma State outscrapping KU on the boards, 41-28.

“It’s kind of sad, depressing, because like coach Self said, those guys made a way for us to be here,” KU sophomore guard Malik Newman said of the former Jayhawks who witnessed a rare home loss.

“All they wanted to do was come back and see us compete and play hard and know that what they did (at KU) is actually paying off. I think we failed those guys today,” Newman added of all those who were introduced to the crowd at halftime.

Self said there was plenty of blame to go around.

“We need to be more prepared to play. That’s on me, not getting them ready and it’s on me for allowing them to be so soft,” Self said of his players, who have lost three games at Allen Fieldhouse (Arizona State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State) for the first time since the 1998-99 season. They’ve also lost two conference games at Allen in a season for the first time since that ’98-99 campaign.

“They whipped us on the glass individually and as a unit,” Self added.

Oklahoma State’s Cameron McGriff grabbed nine rebounds to go with a career-best 20 points. Guard Kendall Smith also had a career-best scoring output of 24 points, with five assists and five rebounds.

“That’s about the least competitive as I’ve ever seen,” Self said of KU’s work on the boards. “They had a couple of rebounds we walked away from them, gave them uncontested baskets. That’s our Achilles’ heel all year long and was today. Every scouting report is, ‘Let’s outathletic them going to the glass.’ It’s what they did.

“Our two best rebounders were the worst today — Doke and Lagerald,” Self added.

Udoka Azubuike, who did hit 4 of 7 free throws, had five rebounds to go with his 20 points. Lagerald Vick, who scored five points on 2-of-10 shooting (including 1 of 5 from three on a day in which KU hit 8 of 22 threes to Oklahoma State’s 12 of 27) had three boards.

“They were not factors on the glass. They didn’t do anything to help us rebound,” Self said.

Asked if he knew what was wrong with the slumping Vick, Self replied: “I have no idea. I have no idea.”

Self did point to a tangible reason why Devonté Graham might not have been on top of his game. He said Graham, who had 17 points, eight assists, three turnovers and four rebounds in 40 minutes, was playing “on a bad wheel.”

“Devonté hadn’t practiced since the K-State game because of his (bruised) knee,” Self said. “He went some yesterday, didn’t practice three days prior. I was thinking, ‘No way (he can go) 20, 30 minutes,’ and we can’t take him out.

“Svi (Mykhailiuk, who scored 17 points and was 2 of 9 from three) didn’t play well today and he’s been so good. They give their heart and soul to it. If everybody was as committed to it as those guys I think we’d perform better, and that isn’t the case.”

Graham said his bruised knee, “felt fine” and should not prevent him from playing Tuesday against TCU at 8 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.

Mykhailiuk committed a key turnover with 23 seconds left and KU down 82-77. He was trying to feed Marcus Garrett down low, but the pass was picked off by the Cowboys’ Jeffrey Carroll, who had 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting.

“He (Mykhailiuk) tries too hard sometimes when he starts pressing,” Self said. “He made a really bad play late. He made big plays for us, too. We can’t look to him to do everything.”

KU, which trailed by 11 points with 3:15 left, still had a chance when Oklahoma State’s Lindy Waters missed the front end of a one-and-one with 18.1 seconds left. Graham hit two free throws at 14.2 to cut the gap to 82-79. Smith’s two free throws with 10 seconds left put Oklahoma State up by two possessions, Mykhailiuk missed KU’s last shot, a three-pointer, at :04.

“It’s very frustrating,” Graham said of suffering a third home loss. “You are supposed to win home games. It’s supposed to be really tough on the road. We’ve kind of got it flip-flopped this year. We are way better on the road than we have been playing at home. We’ve got to find a way to come out and crush teams like they came out and put their foot on our throat today.”

Of falling behind to Oklahoma State by scores of 9-5, 17-12, 23-12, 30-18 and 46-28 in the first half, Newman said: “We came out lackadaisical. We never had any energy. We didn’t put out effort to make sure we followed the scouting report. We dug ourselves a hole and it was hard to dig out.”

Self said the bottom line is the effort “was horrendous. Not everybody. There’s some guys committed to play. I like our talent and like our guys, but if we are not turned up we’re slow, really slow.

“To think we had a chance to be in that game late was pretty amazing to me. I thought we got whipped in pretty much every facet.”

Notes

▪ Ochai Agbaji, a 6-5 senior wing from Oak Park High School, attended on an unofficial recruiting visit and sat behind the KU bench. He reported after the game on Twitter that he’s been offered a scholarship by the Jayhawks.

▪ Udoka Azubuike upped his free-throw percentage to 39.5 percent after making 4 of 7 Saturday. “I felt good out there. I’ve changed everything,” he said of his technique.

▪ Mykhailiuk scored 17 points and became the 60th Jayhawk to surpass the 1,000-point milestone.

▪ Legendary coach Eddie Sutton was 0-11 in Allen Fieldhouse as coach at Oklahoma State. “I don’t know if I want to be trying to say I’m as good as him. I’ve got a long way to go. I’m at 14 (wins) now and he won 800 and something. He won a lot more places than I have,” first-year Cowboys coach Mike Boynton said with a smile. Sutton was 1-0 at Allen as head coach at Arkansas and 0-1 at Kentucky.

▪ Boynton on the win: “I want our guys to focus on the moment. Right now they need to enjoy this win. Not many people have come in here and done that.”

OKLAHOMA STATE 84, No. 7 KANSAS 79

This story was originally published February 3, 2018 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Oklahoma State stuns KU in front of ex-players: 'I think we failed those guys today'."