KU’s Dotson, Azubuike honored; still no final word on Jalen Wilson’s status
Kansas senior center Udoka Azubuike and sophomore point guard Devon Dotson have been named to the John R. Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 watch list.
Baylor’s Jared Butler is the only other Big 12 player on the list for the college basketball player of the year award as presented by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Others on the list: Saddiq Bey, Villanova; Vernon Carey and Tre Jones, Duke; Anthony Cowan, Maryland; Anthony Edwards, Georgia; Malachi Flynn, San Diego State; Luke Garza, Iowa; Markus Howard, Marquette; Jordan Nwora, Louisville; Daniel Oturu, Minnesota; Filip Petrusev, Gonzaga; Myles Powell, Seton Hall; Payton Pritchard, Oregon; Jalen Smith, Maryland; Lamar Stevens, Penn State; Obi Toppin, Dayton and Cassius Winston, Michigan State.
Dotson averages 18.0 points and 4.1 assists a game and Azubuike 12.6 points and 9.5 rebounds for KU (19-3, 8-1).
“I think it’s great for our school and conference to have two guys off the same team,” KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend said Tuesday in subbing for Bill Self on Self’s weekly Hawk Talk radio show. Self was out recruiting.
“Devon has played an unbelievable floor game the past two games (wins over Texas Tech and Texas),” Townsend said. “I honestly believe Doke is the best big man in the country.”
Fifteen Wooden finalists will be announced during the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The winner will be announced April 10 during ESPN’s college basketball awards show.
Jalen Wilson update
It’s still possible freshman wing Jalen Wilson will return to KU’s playing rotation this season.
The 6-foot-8, 215-pound native of Denton, Texas, had surgery on Nov. 11 to repair a broken bone in his left foot. He ran through warmup drills before Monday’s 69-58 victory over Texas in Allen Fieldhouse.
“Jalen was set, at least he told me he wanted to come back and play. That was about a week ago. Then he kind of tweaked his back. That kind of set him back again,” Townsend said on Hawk Talk.
“He’s practicing. He looks good. I know he wants to play. I think he’ll weigh between he and his family if he’ll play enough in these last nine games in the league then three hopefully in the Big 12 tournament and whatever we play after that (in the NCAAs).
“If he can’t play enough, is it worth burning a year (in being taken off redshirt list)? I think that is the big question for him. How much he’ll play, where will he fit in, because it will take him a little while to kind of get in the groove to figure out how he’ll get minutes. I’m sure coach will sit down and talk with him and they’ll do what is best for the program.”
Mitch Lightfoot update
A fan on Hawk Talk wanted to know if Mitch Lightfoot could enter a game down the line this season and still redshirt. He is practicing but not playing in games this season. He’ll be a senior in 2020-21.
“No,” Townsend said. “This late in the season if you took him off (redshirt list) and he wasn’t hurt, he’d lose this year. It wouldn’t be fair to Mitch. Mitch loves this place. He deserves to have a full (senior) season. He’s a great kid. He helps us so much in practice. I think you’ll be surprised how improved he is next year when he gets back on the court.”
Team watched Super Bowl
The Jayhawks were awfully busy during Super Bowl weekend, defeating Texas Tech Saturday and Texas Monday in Allen.
The hectic slate didn’t stop the team from watching the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory over San Francisco on TV, however.
“On Sunday we got on the court and walked through some stuff, then we got together at The Oread (hotel) and watched the Super Bowl together, at least the first half (together),” Townsend explained.
“Some of the guys wanted to spend time with their families who were in town for the games. Like Jalen (Wilson) ... it was his mom’s birthday. His mom and dad were here. They went to the restaurant (in the Oread). Devon Dotson’s parents were here and C.B. (Christian Braun).
“We all met back at 10 o’clock (after the Super Bowl) like we do every night before a game to go over the scouting report and make sure the guys knew the game plan for Texas. It was a short turnaround. Coach (Jerrance) Howard did an unbelievable job with the scouts (scouting reports) for both games, having the guys tuned in to know their personnel and what they were trying to do. It was a great three days — two good games,” Townsend added of the KU wins.
Longhorns cold from three
A key to defeating Texas Monday night, Townsend said, was limiting UT to 4-of-24 three-point shooting. Texas, which entered on a two-game winning streak, made 7 of 15 threes in a 72-68 home win over Iowa State and 11 of 22 threes in a 62-61 win over TCU prior to the KU contest.
“They were shooting really well coming in,” Townsend said. “Coach Howard did an unbelievable job making sure the guys knew we had to guard the three-point line. Guarding the three-point line for sure is the reason we won the game last night,” added Townsend while applauding the effort of Texas big man Jericho Sims (17 points, nine boards) and guard Matt Coleman (20 points).
Garrett strong on defense again
KU junior Marcus Garrett had four steals to go with 11 points and five rebounds against the Longhorns. The Dallas native played 39 minutes.
“I think he is right there,” Townsend said, when asked by Hawk Talk host Brian Hanni if Garrett was the best perimeter defender in Townsend’s 16 years at KU. He has 35 steals in 22 games.
“When he leaves here, I think he will go down as one of the best perimeter defenders we’ve ever had. Travis Releford was really good. We usually put him on the other team’s best guy. Brady Morningstar was an unbelievable defender. We put him on the other team’s best perimeter scorer. We’ve had some great ones here. Marcus when he leaves will go down as one of the best.”
KU, which had the day off Tuesday, will resume practicing Wednesday. Next game is 11 a.m., Saturday, at TCU. The Horned Frogs (13-8, 4-4) play Wednesday night at Oklahoma State.
This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 8:41 PM.
