Jalen Wilson ‘delivers’ in second half, helps Jayhawks storm past Kentucky, 65-62
Jalen Wilson entered the 2020-21 college basketball season with great expectations for himself, despite the fact he played just two minutes during his injury-plagued freshman season at Kansas.
“This isn’t something I’m shocked by,” Wilson, KU’s 6-foot-8, 215-pound wing and at times undersized 5-man, said after scoring 23 points (21 the second half) and grabbing 10 rebounds in the No. 7-ranked Jayhawks’ 65-62 victory over No. 20 Kentucky on Tuesday night at the Champions Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“I’ve worked hard to be in this position. I don’t think anybody else is shocked by it. Coach (Bill) Self told me, ‘Good game.’ (I) can’t hold onto it too long because we’ve got a lot of big games coming up,” Wilson added.
The Jayhawks would be 1-2, not 2-1, on their seven-day, three-game season-opening road trip, if not for redshirt freshman Wilson’s 8-of-16 shooting performance that included 2-of-5 shooting from three. Wilson hit 50% of his floor shots, his teammates 24%. The only other Jayhawk in double figures was Ochai Agbaji, who had 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting.
“He (Wilson) delivered. I’m proud of him,” said Agbaji. The junior wing was 3 of 9 from three on a night KU was 5 of 21 from beyond the arc. UK was 3 of 21. Agbaji scored five straight points to bust a 55-55 tie, hit two free throws to give KU a 65-62 lead with 10 seconds left and guarded Davion Mintz, who missed a possible game-tying three with 3 seconds left.
“We fed off his energy, what he was doing, being aggressive, attacking, rebounding the ball,” Agbaji said of Denton, Texas native Wilson, who elected to redshirt a year ago following surgery on his left ankle after the second game of the season.
“He was great on the boards, did anything we needed from him,” Agbaji added.
Christian Braun pulled down 13 boards and scored eight points. Also, Agbaji, David McCormack and Marcus Garrett had five boards apiece as KU outboarded UK, 47-43.
Garrett, who scored eight points with one assist and three turnovers, was able to play 35 minutes. Self, on his taped pregame radio show, said Garrett would be out of the game because of illness.
Self said Garrett tested negative for COVID-19 twice since Friday, including a test Tuesday, and did not have the coronavirus.
“He told us at shootaround he couldn’t suit up. He didn’t want to go through warmups. He had a real problem with headaches and bright lights and his stomach was messed up. He couldn’t get his wind,” Self said.
“His uncle (in Texas) spoke to him, not at my request, next thing you know he pulled a Willis Reed and said he was going to try to play. I didn’t know he’d try until he got on the bus (heading to arena). I said, ‘You don’t have to play.’ He said, ‘No, I want to try.’ He didn’t play (to) Marcus’ standards. We wouldn’t have won unless he was out there.”
Self said the next step for Garrett is to “get him back (to Lawrence) and do whatever doctors do to figure out what it is, get him on the right meds and get him going better.”
Wilson said he “knew” Garrett would play in the game.
“He is a fighter,” Wilson said. “He’s a great defender as you all saw today. He works harder than anybody. I never doubted he was going to play at all.”
Redshirt freshman point guard Dajuan Harris contributed two points, five assists and four steals in 25 minutes and for the second straight game impressed Self and the Jayhawks players.
“Dajuan was special today. He brought us that spark that he brought us last game (win over Saint Joseph’s),” Agbaji said. “He was aggressive on the defensive end and took the pressure off Marcus.”
Agbaji was strong on defense on UK’s last possession. With KU up three, following Agbaji’s free throws, Agbaji shadowed Mintz on the last-ditch three from the wing.
“I wasn’t trying to foul,” Agbaji said. “He got a shot up. We had boxed out (Braun grabbed the final rebound). We didn’t want any (open) threes, wanted contested threes. I was trying not to foul,” Agbaji added.
Kentucky, which hit 36% of its shots, was led by Mintz and Brandon Boston, who had 12 points apiece. Self said he wasn’t surprised his own team hit 29.9%.
“The tightest rims I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Self, who noted the court was set up on Tuesday morning. “It was a different deal. This arena (Bankers Life Fieldhouse), which I love, was under construction until yesterday. They put the floor down this morning. We had to personally mop the floor when we got here because it was not playable. They hadn’t had time to mop it yet. It was a weird situation. ESPN always does a fantastic job. It didn’t have a feel of a game at all (with no fans). It had the feel of a scrimmage. I mean guys competed and played hard. It’s good to know you can get behind (13 points in first half) and come back.”
KU, which went 2-1 on its seven-day road trip, now returns to play Washburn at 7 p.m. Thursday in Allen Fieldhouse. Only family members of players and coaches will be admitted because of the pandemic.
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 11:11 PM.
