KU’s Bill Self pleased by ‘fluid’ offense in rout of TCU: ‘I thought we shared it’
Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self was a bit tardy for his weekly Hawk Talk radio show appearance Wednesday night — less than 24 hours after a 93-64 victory over TCU in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I’m kind of like probably the rest of America. I’ve been watching the news and lost track of time,” said Self, who was engrossed in the news of the day — rioters storming the U.S. Capitol.
Self didn’t delve into his thoughts about the goings-on in Washington, D.C., on Hawk Talk. Instead in a 30-minute segment he looked back on KU’s 29-point victory, which tied for the Jayhawks’ third-most lopsided win in a Big 12 road contest in the 18-year Self era.
It trailed only a 35-point victory at Texas Tech during the 2011-12 season and 30-point decision at Texas in 2015-16. KU also won by 29 points over Colorado in Boulder during the 2006-07 season.
“I thought we were aggressive on both ends for the most part,” Self said. “I thought we shared it. I thought we were aggressive. I thought we were pretty focused. We probably looked about as fluid as we have all year long offensively.”
KU, which had 21 assists on its 35 baskets, played without senior point guard Marcus Garrett, who was unavailable after taking a shot to the head from Texas’ Jericho Sims late in Saturday’s 25-point home loss to the Longhorns.
Garrett — he had some lingering concussion-like symptoms Tuesday — was replaced in the lineup by freshman point guard Dajuan Harris, who responded with seven points and seven assists in 27 minutes.
“Nobody was happier for Juan’s success than Marcus,” Self said, noting Garrett “helped coach the guys, especially Juan from the bench.”
Of Columbia, Missouri native Harris, Self said: “I thought he looked like he belonged. The offense flowed pretty well. He didn’t do anything exceptional offensively except kind of get the ball where it needed to go. The guys love playing with him. Juan kind of held everything together for us.
“That was something we probably needed, Now we have some confidence we don’t have to have everybody in order to play well. Although we don’t want to play without Marcus again, the reality is all is not lost if we have to,” Self added.
Self sounded hopeful that Garrett would be able to play in KU’s next game. The No. 6-ranked Jayhawks (9-2, 3-1) will meet unranked Oklahoma at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“He wanted to play so bad (but) there was no decision to be made. He still had symptoms. My understanding is he was feeling much better today,” Self said of Garrett. “Maybe he just needed another day.”
Self was pleased with the play of sophomore wing Tristan Enaruna. The 6-foot-8 Netherlands native had career highs in points (12 on 5-of-8 shooting) and rebounds (seven) in 17 minutes.
“I thought he was more aggressive,” Self said. “The two threes he made (in three attempts) were after the offense had a chance to work. He drove the ball downhill and made a great lob pass to Mitch (Lightfoot for a dunk). After he made some of those plays the basket got bigger for him.”
Of junior forward David McCormack who had 20 points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes, Self said: “David totally played to his size. He was aggressive.”
TCU forward Kevin Samuel, the Big 12 leader in rebounds and blocks, had no rebounds and no blocks in 18 minutes. He scored eight points
Self lauded junior wing Ochai Agbaji, who scored 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting (3-of-6 from three) in 31 minutes despite not being 100% healthy. He tweaked his hamstring Monday at practice.
“We thought it was 50-50 he could play. He did a good job with treatment. We weren’t going to put him in a situation where he could stress it,” Self said.
“He played very athletic but he played very under control. It didn’t seem to bother him at all which was terrific. We got lucky there.”
KU also received 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 35 minutes from freshman wing Jalen Wilson as KU bounced back from Saturday’s 25-point loss to Texas, which tied for KU’s worst loss in Allen Fieldhouse history. KU also lost to Missouri by 25 points at home in the 1988-89 season.
“I thought last night would be one of hardest games we’d have to win — maybe our mindset being down a man or two (Bryce Thompson also missed game because of back injury). Obviously getting our butts whipped on Saturday, the guys handled it great. They didn’t let one (loss) become two. We played with pretty good focus. A combination of things led us to have probably the perfect mindset going into a road game,” said Self, whose Jayhawks arrived back in Lawrence at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday after a game that started at 9 p.m.
