Versatile KU forward David McCormack explains efficiency with both hands
Kansas sophomore power forward David McCormack spent 15 minutes signing dozens of autographs for youngsters late Monday night in the northwest tunnel of Allen Fieldhouse.
The 6-foot-10, 265-pound native of Norfolk, Virginia penned his signature with his left hand, which sparked an interesting exchange with media members, who saw McCormack score 10 points — all with his right hand — in Monday’s 91-71 victory over Iowa State.
“Yes, I’m actually lefty. I’ve got to explain,” McCormack said good-naturedly. “Eating and writing, (I’m) lefty. Shooting, throwing, kicking (I’m) righty. Baseball swing … righty. Golf swing … lefty. Ping pong … righty.”
Well that clears things up except for one matter. How’s McCormack’s lefthanded jump shot?
“Crisp,” he said, smiling. “Crisp.”
McCormack obviously was in a good mood Monday after emerging as one of five Jayhawks to score in double figures on Big Monday.
Sophomore point guard Devon Dotson led the way with 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting. He was 6 of 8 from three. Also, sophomore wing Ochai Agbaji had 14 points, senior center Udoka Azubuike 13 points and freshman wing Christian Braun 13 points.
The Jayhawks, who averaged 68.7 points a game in 12 Big 12 games prior to Monday, exploded for 50 points the first half and 41 the second against the Cyclones.
That performance followed Saturday’s 87-point performance against Oklahoma.
“Scoring 91 doesn’t surprise me if we all play to our strengths,” McCormack said.
KU coach Bill Self has been pleased with the offense of late, but cautioned: “I don’t think this is how this team will win consistently. The grimier it is, the more we should like it. We didn’t do anything to make it grimy the last two games.
“That’s not all bad. We needed to see the ball go in the basket, too. Hopefully we get back to guarding a little bit and do it with a more confident mindset,” Self added.
Self was happy to see Braun snap a scoring drought Monday.
He scored 13 points (all in the first half) on 5-of-6 shooting. Braun was 3 of 4 from three after taking just four threes total and making one the previous four games.
“Christian needed something good to happen,” Self said. “It was nice to see him get some looks and be aggressive. He had 13 points the first half. He was as good as anybody we had in the first half.
“After watching us play a while,” Self added, “making shots is important, but there is usually one thing that will key something positive for us. It’s usually Marcus Garrett defensively. It seems to me his plays defensively automatically lead to momentum changes.”
Junior guard Garrett scored five points with eight rebounds, six assists and three steals against Iowa State.
Self also was happy to see Dotson knock down six threes in eight tries. Dotson entered the game 26 of 96 from three for 27.1%. In league games only he was 11 of 43 from three for 25.6%.
“Devon is a good shooter,” Self said. “He hasn’t made shots basically all year consistently. It was good to see him see the ball go down. He had an efficient game. We did some good things. No one was better than Devon.”
Braun said it was good to see Dotson convert consistently from beyond the arc.
“He looked great offensively,” Braun said. “He was good — getting in the paint and shooting the ball deep. It was real nice, especially in a game where we weren’t playing good defense. Devon hitting all those shots helped us.”
Asked about his own effort maybe increasing his confidence moving forward, the 6-6 Braun said: “For sure. We needed to get some momentum going into Baylor (11 a.m., Saturday, Waco, Texas).
Here’s the Jayhawks’ schedule leading up to the Baylor game: “We have a couple days to get rested and ready obviously for the biggest game of the year,” Self said.
The Jayhawks, who are 23-3 overall, are 12-1 in the Big 12. Baylor will take a 23-1 record (12-0 in the league) into Tuesday’s game at Oklahoma.
“We are off tomorrow,” Self noted. “We may go light Wednesday, really light. Light shooting and a lot of preliminary scout work, to familiarize our guys again. The way Baylor guarded us the first time (in KU’s 67-55 loss on Jan. 11 in Allen), we need to study that to try to figure a way to improve ball and body movement. Obviously they did a great job scouting us and we were pretty easy to guard. We’ve got to do some things to correct that.”
Fieldhouse milestone
KU won its 800th game in Allen Fieldhouse on Monday against 114 losses in 65 seasons. KU is 262-14 in the fieldhouse during the 17-year Self era. That includes a 134-9 record in home conference games.
Self was asked if he had any favorite moments in the building.
“Anytime when the game should be over and we’ve come back and won, those are favorite memories for me,” he said. “It’s happened many times. Our players have been responsible for a good chunk of that (the 800). We’re proud of that. It’s a great building. Walk out there and see the corners are filled, you know it is going to be a juiced atmosphere.”
