Remy Martin flips switch at halftime and his 15 points help Kansas Jayhawks win opener
Kansas point guard Remy Martin didn’t score a point — heck he didn’t attempt a shot — during the first half of his first regular season game as a Jayhawk.
The 6-foot “super” senior transfer from Arizona State, who led the Pac-12 in scoring a year ago, did an about-face, totaling 15 points the second half of KU’s 87-74 Champions Classic victory over Michigan State on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York.
He hit 5 of 9 shots (4-of-4 from the line and 1-of-3 from three), complimenting Ochai Agbaji’s career-high 29 points as the No. 3-ranked Jayhawks won their season opener against the unranked Spartans.
“Just being more aggressive,” Martin said of the difference between the two halves. “My team was telling me, ‘Hey, we need you. We need you to get going.’ Ochai was going already, just to help him, help him help the team, and then when I’m aggressive and I touch the paint and just be more aggressive in general, it opens up everything for everybody else.
“I was just happy that my teammates stuck with me throughout the whole thing. Even Coach was telling me, ‘Let’s get going.’ And in the second half just kind of changed my mindset and started to go downhill.”
KU coach Bill Self was asked by a national media member in attendance at college basketball’s season-opening marquee event if Martin has adjusted well to a new system in his fifth year of college hoops.
“I think he’s doing well,” Self said. “I haven’t quite figured Remy out and I don’t mean that in a negative way. He does some things. He doesn’t even take a shot, doesn’t look at the basket the first half. He doesn’t get to the paint, and then second half we just tried to spread it so we could just get him in there. He’s a guy that gives energy and he plays with personality, so he’s going to be a big bonus for us in that regard.
“But if he can get 15 a game the way we play, it’s going to be a huge, huge bonus for us.”
Martin finished with 15 points and six boards in 27 minutes. He played 16 minutes in the second half.
“Remy’s been a guy that is used to having the ball in his hands and I’m trying to get it out of his hands more,” Self said. “So it is an adjustment. He’s used to passing the wing and going back and getting it and there’s nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong at all. It’s just different than how we want to do it.
“So I don’t think he’s even remotely comfortable playing the way we want to play and I don’t think he can see yet how he can benefit from playing the way we want to play, even though I thought he did a really nice job the second half tonight.”
Martin did not start KU’s sole exhibition game against Emporia State.
“That was the message, not starting,” Martin said. “I wasn’t doing my part. I needed to do a lot better at practice. And Coach pushes me. He wants me to be the best I could be and I’m meeting the challenge. I came here for that reason, to get better as a basketball player, and he’s pushing me to be that every day and I’m happy. I love the group. I love him. I love the Kansas culture and I’m bought in and I just want to win.”
Martin wasn’t the only newcomer to contribute to the win. Freshman forward Zach Clemence scored seven points in four minutes. Freshman point guard Bobby Pettiford had five points, two rebounds and two assists in 11 minutes. Frosh forward KJ Adams had two rebounds, a block and an assist in four minutes.
Senior shooting guard Jalen Coleman-Lands was 1-of-3 from three and scored five points while Drake transfer Joseph Yesufu was 0-for-1 from three in six minutes.
“I thought Zach was terrific, seven points and in four minutes. KJ Adams was great the second half. He made some unbelievable great hustle plays. And I thought Bobby was really good. So that was because Joseph didn’t get a chance to do much and Jalen Coleman-Lands, he made a big shot early and he’s not quite healthy yet. But I was encouraged by our bench. I really was,” Self said.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 11:16 PM.
