Udoka Azubuike’s work on boards pleases KU’s Self: ‘Last night he totally dominated’
Kansas senior center Udoka Azubuike made all seven of his field goal tries in the Jayhawks’ 95-68 nonconference basketball victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
That followed the 7-footer’s 6 of 7 shooting performance in a 72-58 win over Colorado on Saturday.
“Terrific, fabulous,” were the words KU coach Bill Self used Wednesday on his Hawk Talk radio show to describe the play of the Delta, Nigeria native in 8-1 KU’s first nine games.
Self was quick to not only praise Azubuike’s unheard-of, nation’s best 82.2% field goal percentage (60 of 73) but mentioned his improved rebounding versus the Panthers.
“Last night he totally dominated. He had 17 rebounds,” Self said of Azubuike’s career high in boards. Azubuike also had 15 points Tuesday after connecting for 12 points with six boards vs. Colorado. “He had 10 rebounds the first half. He was going and getting them outside his area.
“I watched the game (tape). David (McCormack) got one rebound last night because Doke got them all. I’m not knocking David. I’m just saying Doke went and got them which is a good problem to have,” Self added.
Azubuike’s 82.2% shooting is tops in the country. Florida International’s Osasumwen Osaghae and Arizona’s Zeke Nnaji each are at 71.8%. The record for single-season field goal percentage is 80% by Devontae Cacok of UNC Wilmington (2016-17). Azubuike is KU’s single-season record holder at 77% in 2017-18.
Azubuike — he made his only free throw attempt on Tuesday — is 13 of 35 for the season for 37.1%. That followed an 0 of 4 outing versus Colorado and 5 of 8 performance in the Maui Invitational final vs. Dayton.
“He is 100% (from line) in the last 24 hours that he shot free throws,” Self said jokingly on his show. “I was actually telling somebody else who was giving me a hard time saying we have not done a very good job with Doke shooting free throws … I said, ‘How do you get better than 100 percent?’
“He’s doing great. I’m happy with him. One thing I found out with guys over time it’s hard to really say publicly things you feel because you are proud of guys (but) as soon as you go too far (with praise) early in the season, say too many good things, something will happen where you will be mad at him the next day.
“I’ve always found you temper everything this early because the season hasn’t even started yet, although our schedule is amping up, picking up. We have such a long way to go but to this point, he’s done very well,” he added of Azubuike, who is second on the team in scoring (14.8 ppg) and first in rebounding (8.4) heading into Saturday’s game against UMKC (4 p.m., Sprint Center).
Azubuike has 17 blocked shots in nine games to lead the team. Tristan Enaruna is second with six rejections.
“Doke potentially is probably as good a big-man defender as there is,” Self said.
Jersey retirement talk
Self was asked about players who might expect to see their jerseys hang in the Allen Fieldhouse rafters sooner rather than later.
“Marcus Morris will be up there. He was player of the year in our league. Thomas Robinson (was) first-team AP All-American. Devonté (Graham) will be up there. Frank (Mason) will obviously be up there. We have some guys we know will be up there,” Self said.
He indicated there is no official criteria for a player’s jersey to hang.
However, it’s a safe bet a Jayhawk player will be honored if they are: “first-team All-American or player of the year in the league; most valuable player of the Final Four means the team probably won it (national title). Those I think are locks. After that I think you have to be open to what your interpretations are of that particular individual,” Self said.
He noted that, “we’ve had some unbelievable players not get up there. You go back and look and say, ‘Well they never made first-team all-Big 12. If you don’t make first-team all-Big 12 are you really deserving of being one of the greatest to ever play here?”
Self in a discussion of the topic on his show noted: “There will be more (than Mason, Graham, Morris and Robinson). Perry Ellis … he is ninth-leading scorer in the history of the school, made first-team all-league but never quite cracked first-team All-American. He was second team. Perry could be one going up. That decision has not been made yet.
“Wiggs (Andrew Wiggins) was No. 1 pick in the draft; how does that fit in? You’d like to say Joel (Embiid), how he turned out to be … Joel didn’t finish out the season, got hurt (in one year at KU). How do you put Joel in and not have Keith Langford? So many deserve it. If you put strict criteria on some of those guys some will be left out.”
The only current rule is a player must be five years removed from school to have his jersey hung in the rafters.
“I think it means so much more when you bring your family back at a later time where you can really experience how much it means to you and how much the place helped change your life and become a springboard for your life than it is the day after Senior Day,” Self said. “That’s my opinion. Not everybody has to agree with it.”
West Virginia TBA
The game time for the Jan. 4 home game vs. West Virginia is currently listed as 3 p.m. or 7 p.m. Self said he believes KU officials are waiting to get an idea of whether the Chiefs will be playing that day and if so, what time.
