Tourney MVP Lawson relishes KU’s NIT title: ‘The lights are very bright out there’

Dedric Lawson resembled a Broadway star taking a bow after leading his No. 2-ranked Kansas basketball team to an NIT Season Tip-Off title late Friday night at Barclays Center, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets.

“This is great. It’s something you always dream of, going against a top five team,” Lawson, KU’s 6-foot-9, 235-pound junior forward from Memphis said to an attentive Big Apple press corps after scoring 24 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in an 87-81 overtime win over No. 5 Tennessee — a performance that along with his 26-point outing against Marquette earned him MVP honors in his first early-season tourney as a Kansas Jayhawk.

“You see the ticker all day on ESPN … you get nervous, get jitters. The lights are very bright out there. I think this is what makes the game of basketball special, going out and competing against a guy like Grant Williams (18 points, eight rebounds, six assists) and a guy like Schofield (Admiral, 21 points). You’ve got to cherish the game and embrace the moment,” said after starring on the big stage.

Lawson, who said, “I guess I was greedy offensively,” scored eight of KU’s 18 points in overtime against the Volunteers (4-1), making sure the Jayhawks completed a difficult season-opening stretch of games with a 5-0 record.

“It’s not me. We have a very deep team. We never know whose night it will be,” Lawson said, noting there were different heroes in wins over Marquette (ranked No. 24 during week two) and Tennessee in the NIT as well as then-No. 10 Michigan State in the Champions Classic.

KU also bagged a pair of home wins against Vermont and Louisiana, mid-major teams expected to vie for titles in their respective leagues.

“There are a lot of good things we can take from this and a lot of things we can learn from,” KU coach Bill Self said. His Jayhawks now get a break in the schedule, not playing again until Saturday at home against Stanford.

“I don’t know what we have yet. If you watched us play so far or study us, it’s a different guy every night,” Self added. “We went through a period of time Dedric’s (Lawson) only made basket was sitting on his butt (in the paint for a hoop against Louisiana).

“There was a period of time guys can’t scratch. Lagerald (Vick, 33 points against Louisiana; 32 versus Vermont, 15 against Tennessee) couldn’t scratch against Michigan State (two points in season-opening win). It’s been a good thing … different guys step up different nights.”

Eight Jayhawks played 13 or more minutes and a pair of players two minutes apiece in the first half of Wednesday’s 77-68 semifinal win over Marquette. Nine players logged four or more minutes against Tennessee.

Lawson (26) led the Jayhawks in scoring against both Marquette and Tennessee (24), while Vick was the leading scorer against Louisiana (33 points) and Vermont (32) and Quentin Grimes (21) against Michigan State.

“It shows how special this team can be. Different guys can step up each and every night,” Lawson said after hitting 9 of 16 shots and 7 of 7 free throws against Marquette. He was 9 of 16 from the field against Tennessee and 6 of 11 from the line.

Of course, KU knew depth was a potential strength even before its season-opening win over Michigan State — a game in which 10 Jayhawks played five or more minutes.

“We’ve got young guards, a young team,” Self said. “We need this (tough schedule) to help prepare us down the road.”

Here’s a look back at KU’s victories over Marquette and Tennessee in Brooklyn.

KU 87, Tennessee 81, Friday, Barclays Center: Lawson, 24, Devon Dotson, 17 and Vick 15 scored in double figures, while foul-plagued Udoka Azubuike had nine points, Charlie Moore nine and K.J. Lawson eight.

“We didn’t have maybe our toughest player,” Self said of winning without sophomore guard Marcus Garrett. He missed the tourney final because of concussion-like symptoms incurred after getting hit in the head by Sam Hauser late in the Marquette game. “Charlie and K.J. were good off the bench.

“Guys grinding to make plays against a team that could easily compete for a national championship speaks wonders for our guys growing up. It’s great for our young kids to have a chance to experience that. It was a great team win.”

Self added: “We’ve got to get better than what we are. We need to be mentally tougher in some ways. We’ve got to execute better, carry out assignments better. It’s OK to win ugly. Winning ugly is pretty at the end of the day. We’ve won a lot of games here that artistically weren’t very good.”

Of Vick, who had 10 key points the second half versus the Vols, Self said: “He’s been great from an attitude standpoint and leadership standpoint. He’s been a 10 so far. We may have not won our last two home games unless he’s 15 of 20 from three (vs. Vermont and Louisiana).”

Of freshman Quentin Grimes, who scored five points with four rebounds in 21 minutes against the Vols, Self said: “He’s a talented kid. We’ll be better when he starts playing like we know he can play.”

KU 77, Marquette 68, Wednesday, Barclays Center: Lawson scored 26 points, followed by Vick (16), Garrett (11) and Dotson (10). The story, however, was defense. KU held Marquette to 21 points on 25.9 percent shooting the second half.

“To get dominated the first half and play lights out the second half, to turn a game where things were not looking good for us (will be important),” Self said. Marquette hit 11 threes the first half, just three the second.

“Devon Dotson was unreal,” Self added of the freshman point guard, who hit 4 of 7 shots and 2 of 2 free throws with four assists, three rebounds and three steals against the Golden Eagles in 31 minutes.

Dotson held Marquette point guard Markus Howard to 18 points on 6-of-23 shooting. Howard scored just five points the second half on 1-of-10 shooting.

“He made the kid take 23 shots to get 18,” Self said. “It was an unbelievable job by Devon. Lagerald was solid. Dedric was off the charts good. He pulled out a bag of tricks offensively, which we needed him to. People got a glimpse how he can score.”

Yet … “maybe the player of the game was Marcus Garrett,” Self said. Garrett was 4 of 13 from the field (2 of 5 from line; 1 of 3 from three) with three rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 28 minutes.

He started the second half in place of Grimes and helped KU hold Marquette to 3 of 10 three-point shooting after the Golden Eagles hit 11 of 21 treys the first half.

“Defensively we were totally different with him in the game at the 4,” Self noted. The 6-5 Garrett played power forward much of the second half.

His effort in running out to to contest three-point shots was appreciated by KU’s coach.

“Well I think we can certainly be a lot better than we are now,” Self said of three-point defense. “Positioning, initial positioning, athletic ability certainly plays a role, also want-to, energy and activity plays a huge role. Also understanding angles, not allowing certain type of drives.

“We’ve got three guys pretty good at guarding the ball — Devon, Marcus and Lagerald. They can all get better. Q (Grimes) and Charlie (Moore) are capable. I think with more experience they will become much more effective than we have been so far. There is certainly potential to grow. Where we struggle guarding on the perimeter most is our bigs, particularly the 4 position. I feel pretty good when Doke (Azubuike, who has been effective in five games, yet foul plagued) is out there. When a team plays a guard at the 4 it puts pressure on whoever is out there, Mitch (Lightfoot), Dedric or K.J. (Lawson). That position needs to tighten it up as much as any.”

The good news is Garrett physically will be fine, Self said. He has several days to rest before the next contest.

“We were hopeful he could play,” the coach said. “He had some concussion-type symptoms. No way we’d let him play. Even yesterday doctors said he’d be doubtful today. It was an easy decision (to not play him).”

Gary Bedore

Gary Bedore covers University of Kansas athletics for The Star.