Texas native Garrett admired by members of Self family: ‘He makes winning plays’
Bill Self is not the only member of his family enamored with the overall game of Kansas sophomore guard Marcus Garrett.
“My mom has been around basketball her whole life. My sister has been around ball her whole life. I wouldn’t classify them as Hubie Brown or Mike Fratello analyzing the game, (but) they think he (Garrett) is the greatest thing ever,” Self, KU’s 16th-year coach, said of his mother, Margaret, and sister Shelly on Self’s Hawk Talk radio show.
“Marcus Garrett … good gosh, he does everything. They are right,” Self added.
The 6-foot-5 Dallas Skyline High School graduate, who will likely have several family members and friends in the stands at Tuesday’s 6 p.m. clash between KU (16-4, 5-2) and Texas (11-9, 3-4) at the Erwin Center in Austin, has put together quite a three-game stretch in Big 12 play.
Garrett scored a career-high 20 points with three assists and three steals in KU’s 80-78 victory against Texas on Jan. 14 at Allen Fieldhouse. Next, he scored 15 points with a career-best six steals in a 65-64 loss at West Virginia on Jan. 19. He then went for 16 points, five rebounds and three steals in a 80-76 victory over Iowa State on Jan. 21 at Allen.
The hiccup came over the weekend, when he scored just four points on 1-of-9 shooting with three turnovers to go with two steals in Saturday’s 71-63 loss to Kentucky in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in Lexington, Ky.
But Garrett’s season has been pretty outstanding so far.
“Fast hands, best defender, best driver of the ball … he makes winning plays. He makes the game easier for everyone else,” Self said of Garrett, who averages 7.5 points (on 40.7 percent shooting), 3.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals a game. He’s second in the Big 12 in steals behind Kansas State’s Barry Brown.
“You could say you wish he shot it better. I do too, but if he did he’d be gone after this year (to NBA). He is a point guard playing the 1, 2, 3, 4 for us. It’s been fun to watch his growth,” Self said.
Garrett, who hit eight of 11 shots in KU’s narrow victory over Texas just two weeks ago in Allen Fieldhouse, went 3-o- 4 from three-point range in that game.
For the year, he’s made seven of 30 threes (.233) and 35 of 58 free throws (.603).
“Defense will still be what his trademark is,” Self said of Garrett, a natural guard who has been playing power forward of late to make up for the absence of Udoka Azubuike, who is out for season with a hand injury. “We need him to score some. We’re better when he scores a bit, a totally different team. Look at our team. We’ve got one guy that is a consistent threat from beyond the arc (Lagerald Vick). We have to manufacture other ways to score. Marcus has given us one of those ways to manufacture points,” Self said.
Garrett completed eight drives for layups en route to 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting in KU’s recent win over Iowa State.
“He had five (layups) going right, three left. It’s not like he was overplaying his right hand. He did it both ways,” Self said. “I told him, ‘You were great. I’m proud of you, but geez you were 0-for-3 from the line (late).’ He has to do some of those things well. He will.”
Garrett is starting to remind Self of a former Jayhawk guard.
“I don’t know if you remember Cedric Hunter,” Self said of the Larry Brown-era point guard. “Cedric couldn’t shoot a lick, (but) gosh was he great. Long arms, best on the ball defender, guys loved playing with him. Marcus Garrett has the same attributes but probably shoots it better than Cedric. I’m excited for him.”
KU’s leading scorer, Dedric Lawson (19.5 ppg), said he’s not surprised by Garrett’s improved offensive performance in KU’s last three Big 12 games. Garrett hit 22 of 35 shots against Texas, West Virginia and Iowa State while averaging 17 points a game — 9.5 points a game over his average.
“I saw it coming,” Lawson said. “I thought it would have come earlier just by seeing him doing so much at practice. He’s consistent at putting in the work. He’s getting comfortable with the game. Once you get comfortable with it, it’s over.
“He’s been in double figures (three games before the Kentucky game) and we don’t look for anything else going forward. I expect the same thing — for him to keep going downhill and making those shots (layups) and playing with comfort,” Lawson said.
Garrett scored in double figures in just five of 39 games his freshman season and two of 15 games to open his sophomore campaign before his recent stretch of productivity in league games.
Garrett said his confidence is “coming from my teammates like Dedric and Charlie (Moore). Every time we go home (to the McCarthy Hall apartments) they’re letting me know to not let those missed shots affect me and just keep shooting. The only way the ball will go in is if you keep shooting.”
He may need a batch of steals just to help KU keep pace with Texas on Tuesday.
The athletic Longhorns had 17 steals and forced 26 turnovers in Saturday’s 98-88 loss at Georgia.
“It’s from watching film. When I see the ball in front of me, I basically just try to reach,” Garrett said of stealing the ball. “Most of the time when the offensive player catches the ball, they’re not really holding it tight, they’re trying to run a play, so I just try to get my hand in there.”
He has led KU in steals in each of the last four games and eight times this season.
“Obviously he is more confident and comfortable right now,” Self said.
Vick scored 21 points, Garrett 20 and Lawson 17 with eight rebounds in the first KU-UT meeting. Vick hit five of eight three-pointers. Texas, which led the Jayhawks 40-38 at halftime, had five players score in double figures. UT was led by Matt Coleman’s 16 points and eight assists.
Jase Febres (12 points, 4 of 11 from three) misfired on a three-point try on the final possession. A three would have given Texas the win at Allen Fieldhouse.
“Very big. It’s another conference game. It’s a must win,” Garrett said of Tuesday’s contest in Austin.
Of the game, Self said: “Tuesday’s game is huge. We’ve got to be ready to go play in Austin and then, over a span of seven days, you’re playing Texas Tech (Saturday at Allen) and at Kansas State (Feb. 5 in Manhattan). I don’t even know who we play after that (Oklahoma State on Feb. 9 at Allen), but they’re going to be real (good) too. But it’s just a situation where we can’t let this (loss at Kentucky) get us down. We don’t have time to get down over this. When the Chiefs lost to the Rams, they couldn’t get down and let one (loss) become two. That’s exactly what we’ve got to do as well.”
