KU’s Braun makes first start, scores 16 points, pays tribute to Kobe and Gigi Bryant
Christian Braun honored two special individuals by crafting a message on his Adidas shoes before the start of Monday’s Kansas-Oklahoma State basketball game at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
“I put ‘Mamba Mentality’ and ‘RIP Gigi, No. 2.’ It’s my number as well,” Braun, KU’s freshman guard out of Blue Valley Northwest said after scoring 16 points on 4-of-8 three-point shooting and grabbing nine rebounds while making the first start of his career in KU’s 65-50 victory over the Cowboys.
Braun and his KU teammates have had heavy hearts since Sunday, when NBA great Kobe Bryant and Bryant’s daughter, 13-year-old Gigi Bryant, were two of nine individuals who died in a helicopter wreck in California.
KU senior center Udoka Azubuike, who had trouble getting open against OSU’s zone defense in scoring just six points (with seven boards) in 28 minutes, in fact, told ESPN he had trouble sleeping on Sunday night, because of all-encompassing sadness over the tragedy.
KU coach Bill Self said the Jayhawks definitely have had Kobe, Kobe’s daughter and all involved in the tragedy on their minds.
“Guys are emotional because he was an icon to them, who everybody respected,” Self said of Kobe Bryant after the No. 3-ranked Jayhawks improved to 17-3 overall, 6-1 in the Big 12 and 4-0 in league road games.
“If you really respected Kobe and what he stood for, you know you are supposed to play a certain way. I didn’t see it as a negative with the guys,” Self added.
KU junior guard Marcus Garrett, who flirted with a triple-double by scoring seven points with nine assists and eight rebounds in 34 minutes, described the mood in the locker room.
“It was definitely big yesterday,” Garrett said of talk about the tragedy. “A lot of guys in the locker room were just mourning about the loss, knowing how big he was on the basketball court to everybody growing up in my generation. A lot of people mentioned him on their shoes because of it.”
Self said Garrett and Braun “were the two best players in the game. Marcus totally controlled everything, especially the second half.”
Garrett played a lot of point Monday because soph lead guard Devon Dotson was limited to 26 minutes because of foul problems. Dotson scored 11 points and dished three assists.
“Marcus should have had 10 (assists). Tristan (Enaruna, three points, five boards, 15 minutes) dropped one (on a layup),” Self said. “He (Garrett) should have had more than eight rebounds. He didn’t get one the second half. He should have had more than seven points. He got a ‘triple-single’ but it was close to a triple-double. He is a really good player,” Self added. “I don’t know if we’ve had anybody in the middle of the zone that I can remember better than he is.”
Braun helped attack the zone by hitting four threes. Isaiah Moss converted 3 of 8 for 13 points. As a team, KU was 11 of 33 from three to OSU’s 2 of 18.
Braun started in place of senior guard Moss, who started KU’s last game Saturday versus Tennessee.
“I think he was playing better,” Self said of Braun. “I wanted to give Isaiah a chance to start (Saturday). I didn’t think it worked out too well Saturday (two points, 1 for 6 shooting vs. Tennessee). I’m glad we did (start Braun). He was really good and Isaiah was really good off the bench. To get 29 points from that position is a big bonus for us.”
KU won its second straight game without the suspended David McCormack and Silvio De Sousa. McCormack’s two-game suspension is over heading into Saturday’s home game against Texas Tech.
Self said he probably would keep a four-guard lineup and have McCormack come off the bench instead of have McCormack start as he did before his suspension.
“I would say yes that’s who we are as of today. I don’t see that changing,” Self said. “I think David will still play the same amount of minutes or close to the same. I see the best lineup he and Doke playing the 5, those other two guys splitting time on the perimeter.”
Braun said he learned he was starting “before the game. Coach came up, told me I’d start, told me my matchup. Being in the starting lineup is not much different,” Braun added, “You’ve got to be one of the guys who start it out right.”
KU on Monday was able to beat an OSU team that also was mourning the Bryant tragedy. But Monday was also the 19th anniversary of the plane crash that killed 10 members of the Cowboys basketball program.
Self had his players visit a memorial in Gallagher-Iba when they arrived at the arena on Monday.
“A player on our team last year … Garrett Luinstra … his father (Brian) was one of the 10. All our guys like Garrett a lot. We talked about that. We gave a little background about what transpired,” Self said. “We explained to our guys it’d be an emotional night for people who support Oklahoma State.”
Also, Self came out of the locker room early to speak with one of his mentors, Eddie Sutton, who attended the “Remember the 10” game. Sutton was coach at time of the tragedy.
“He is an amazing coach. I spent three years with him (as an Oklahoma State assistant),” Self said. “Things we do every day are things he basically taught us, taught me. I like to make coach (Larry) Brown, Leonard (Hamilton) and certainly coach Sutton proud watching my teams play. He’s pretty awesome.”
KU will next meet Texas Tech at 3 p.m. Saturday in Allen. Oklahoma State (10-10, 0-7) will meet Oklahoma at 2 p.m. Saturday in Norman.
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 10:18 PM.
