KU’s Self would gladly accept repeat of last year’s performance at Texas Tech
Thanks to senior point guard Devonté Graham, with an assist from his buddy Svi Mykhailiuk, Kansas wrapped up a record-setting 14th-straight Big 12 regular-season basketball championship late last season at Texas Tech.
“That’s when Devonté locked up player of the year in the league. He was great. That (game) clinched the league for us,” KU coach Bill Self said this week in recalling the No. 8-ranked Jayhawks’ 74-72 victory over the No. 6 Red Raiders on Feb. 24, 2018 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.
Graham, who is now with the Charlotte Hornets, scored 26 points (18 in the final 14 minutes) and shooting guard Mykhailiuk, now with the Detroit Pistons, added 21 as KU secured at least a tie for the league crown with two games left to play.
The Jayhawks celebrated passing UCLA (which won 13 straight conference titles from 1967-79) by donning “14 straight” hats and T-shirts in the winners locker room and posing for pictures with the league title trophy prior to returning to Lawrence.
“My favorite memory of him playing would be at Texas Tech last year,” Self said of Graham. “They had us beat. He went and scored 14 points on his own (in crunch time). He just willed us to win.
“We’re going to have to have somebody else do that as well,” Self said, looking for candidates on the 2018-19 KU roster to emerge as heroes during this weekend’s equally-important return trip to Lubbock. “When you play defense like Tech does, you’ve got to rely on players to go make individual plays like Devonté did for us last year.”
The No. 12-ranked Jayhawks (20-6, 9-4) will take on No. 14-rated Texas Tech (21-5, 9-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday in United Supermarkets Arena in a game that once again has critical league implications.
KU and Texas Tech enter the weekend one game behind first-place Kansas State (10-3) in the Big 12 standings with five games to play. Iowa State and Baylor are two games back of KSU at 8-5; Texas three back at 7-6. The No. 23-ranked Wildcats (20-6, 10-3) play host to Oklahoma State (3-10) at 3:05 p.m. Saturday in Manhattan, then travel to Allen Fieldhouse to meet rival KU at 8 Monday night in Allen Fieldhouse.
If KU beats Tech and KSU downs Oklahoma State, KU could tie KSU for the league lead with a win Monday in Lawrence. Of course if KU loses to Tech and KSU downs OSU, the Wildcats will leave Lawrence ahead of KU in the standings Monday no matter the result.
For KU to defeat Texas Tech on Saturday, the Jayhawks will have to improve on their 2-6 road record (2-4 on the road in conference play).
“I think we’ll be more confident there because we won at TCU. I would agree with that,” Self said. The Jayhawks defeated TCU 82-77 in overtime in the Jayhawks’ last game outside Allen Fieldhouse, on Feb. 11 in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Our road record stinks. We’re 2-6 on the year. Of course we’ve played some good road teams, but other teams in our league have played good road teams, too, and they’ve had more success. We need to go take our act on the road and play at a very high level. Even if you do that it doesn’t guarantee winning the game, but certainly it puts you in a position to win. That’s what we believe and hope that’s the position that we’ll be in on Saturday.”
The Red Raiders, 4-0 since dropping a 79-63 decision to KU on Feb. 2 at Allen Fieldhouse, lead the Big 12 in scoring defense (57.2 points allowed per game), field-goal percentage defense (36.1), three-point percentage defense (27.6) and turnover margin (plus-3.3).
“We’ll just do what we’ve been doing,” said Self, who for the fourth straight game plans on starting four freshmen (Ochai Agbaji, Devon Dotson, Quentin Grimes, David McCormack) and one junior (Dedric Lawson).
“I actually thought we guarded them (Red Raiders) really well the first time. We did a good job in not letting them do what they want to do. Teams (like Tech) that run true motion are the easiest to prepare for and hardest to play because it’s hard to simulate reads.”
Jarrett Culver, a 6-5 sophomore guard who is a candidate for 2019 Big 12 player of the year, averages a team-leading 17.7 points a game. He had 10 points versus KU in the first meeting at Allen Fieldhouse. Culver was joined in double figures by Davide Moretti (14 points), Tariq Owens (12) and Matt Mooney (11). Lawson scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Dotson chipped in 20 points for KU.
“Since then, they’ve been on a roll,” Self said of the Red Raiders, who have defeated West Virginia (81-50), Oklahoma (66-54), Oklahoma State (78-50) and Baylor (86-61) since the loss in Lawrence.
“They’re just beating the crap out of people. They’re blowing people out,” Self added of Tech, 14-1 at home this season and 5-1 in conference home games. “It appears to me they’re more aggressive on the offensive end as far as taking quick shots and more guys shooting threes. Defensively is what they hang their hat on and it seems like to me they have been really turned up the last few games.”
Tech coach Chris Beard this week was just as complimentary toward the Jayhawks, who have won three consecutive games (with the new starting lineup) and four of their last five.
“I say this with all due respect to Kansas and Coach Self … he’s a friend of mine. I look up to him. These are the same ol’ Kansas guys — multiple McDonald’s All-Americans, multiple NBA draft choices,” Beard said. “He’s got those guys playing very well. He’s done a great job coaching. It’s maybe one of his best jobs because the team has changed. They were playing inside through Doke (Azubuike) and had to change that because of injury (Azubuike’s hand surgery). The story of Kansas is the job Coach (Self) has done adjusting, but it is the same talent. … We think they are the best Kansas team we’ve seen since we’ve been in the league — a Final Four contender. We’ll have to play our best game to have a chance.”
The Jayhawks certainly could use a Graham-like performance or a combined Graham/Svi-like effort in Lubbock on Saturday. KU has won eight straight games in Tech’s arena.
“That was something else at Texas Tech,” junior forward Mitch Lightfoot said of last year’s contest. “I remember one shot from his (Graham’s) hip to seal the game (by giving KU 72-68 lead with 30 seconds to play). I was going in to get a rebound. I said, ‘There’s no way that’s going in.’ It went in.”
Of this year, Lightfoot said simply: “We’re ready to give all we’ve got and finish this right.”
KU will return to Lawrence via charter flight after Saturday’s game and will have limited practice time in advance of Monday’s game against K-State.
