David McCormack busts early-season slump, spurs Jayhawks to 89-54 win over Washburn
Kansas junior power forward David McCormack flushed lobs from Marcus Garrett and Ochai Agbaji, finishing highlight-reel plays in the first three minutes of Thursday night’s Kansas-Washburn basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse.
Normally, those rim-rattlers would have had 16,300 fans roaring their approval.
Not on Thursday.
Just 95 fans watched as KU ripped the Ichabods 89-54 for the Jayhawks’ 48th straight victory in a home opening contest.
“The energy … we had to create our own energy. I think that’s something we did,” McCormack, KU’s 6-10, 265-pound native of Norfolk, Virginia, said after busting out of an early-season slump by scoring 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting (3 of 4 from the line) and grabbing six rebounds.
“(We were) talking on the bench, making sure we had some zest or pop to keep us going,” added McCormack. He had 13 points and Jalen Wilson 12 the first half in helping KU to a 49-32 halftime lead.
McCormack played just 18 minutes total — six minutes the final half — as coach Bill Self took a look at all of his players, including freshman Bryce Thompson, who had 11 points and junior-college transfer Tyon Grant-Foster, who had six points and six boards.
“I don’t know if you can say it doesn’t feel weird. I think we’ve definitely accommodated to it,” McCormack said of playing with few fans on hand during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just 300 fans attended KU’s win over Saint Joseph’s and loss to Gonzaga in Florida and no fans were in the stands for KU’s win over Kentucky on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
“Playing a game your whole life and having people in the stands cheering you on in mass crowds … to either having them not at all or less will feel weird regardless, but I think we’ve accommodated to it well,” McCoramack noted.
McCormack scored just 23 points and grabbed 14 boards in (3-1) KU’s first three games.
“I think it was definitely big for me,” McCormack said of producing versus the Ichabods. “Having the first three games, going off to a slow start … this helped me as a confidence booster and helped me getting my feet wet.”
McCormack wasn’t exactly brooding about scoring in single figures in the first three games, but he wasn’t his normal carefree self either.
“I know I am harder on myself than anybody else is. I think it came down to putting pressure on myself,” McCormack said. “I know I need to have fun, to take the pressure off and enjoy everything that’s going on. Tonight was definitely fun. I enjoyed playing with my team, forgot about everything else, had a great time.”
McCormack played Thursday with a brace on his right knee.
“During the Saint Joe’s game I got fouled. The guy fell on my ankle,” McCormack said. “My knee twisted at the same time. Since then I’ve been getting plenty of treatment. I’m recovering well, doing well.”
KU coach Self thought McCormack fared well versus the Ichabods.
“We got a couple lobs early. He was better,” Self said. “I still think he can do a lot better job with balance and stuff. He was pretty good tonight. Their big kid, No. 42 (Jonny Clausing, eight points, five boards) is strong. They were real baskets David made tonight.”
Wilson hit three threes and scored 13 points, while Agbaji canned four threes and scored 16 points on a night KU knocked down 13 of 26 treys to Washburn’s 9 of 26.
That’s a pretty effective night offensively for Self’s Jayhawks, who were not rewarded by standing ovations from the usual 16,300 fans.
“I thought it was not great by any stretch,” Self said of playing before just players’ family members and/or close friends. “The atmosphere here was 10 times better than what it was in Indy. Indy there was none at all (for Kentucky game). At least we had some cutouts and a couple people in here. That was positive. It’s not the same. It’s certainly different. It was good to play and good to play in the fieldhouse and shoot on some rims that we were a little more comfortable with,” Self added.
KU is set to meet North Dakota State at 3 p.m., Saturday, in Allen Fieldhouse and Creighton at 4 p.m., Tuesday back in Allen.
No fans will be allowed for Saturday’s game. Fans will be allowed for the Creighton game and ensuing games versus Omaha (Dec. 11) and Tarleton State (Dec. 13).
Chancellor Douglas Girod announced on Thursday that KU fans would be allowed at KU athletic events the week of Dec. 7-14. Attendance at basketball games will be capped at about 2,500 fans. Football game attendance for the season finale against Texas on Dec. 12 will be capped at about 9,500 fans, Girod said.
He said the decision to host fans was made in conjunction with the Pandemic Medical Advisory Team and other university leaders.
The decision is based primarily on the current declining trend in COVID-19 positivity and hospitalization rates in our county and region, as well as the fact that Douglas County’s rates continue to be lower than most regions of the country,” Girod said at ku.edu. “Additionally, given there have been no known incidents of COVID-19 transmission at any KU athletics event so far, we are confident in the plans we’ve developed to prioritize safety in our venues.”
Also a limited number of men’s basketball single-game tickets have been made available to the general public for the Creighton, Omaha and Tarleton State games, plus games against West Virginia (Dec. 22), Texas (Jan. 2) and Oklahoma (Jan. 9).
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 9:13 PM.
