What Bill Self said about KU basketball’s three-game performance at Maui Invitational
The country’s college basketball experts and fans might have expected more from the No. 1 team in the nation — the Kansas Jayhawks — during Feast Week.
However, the man who sees his team every day, 21st-year KU coach Bill Self, on Wednesday expressed satisfaction with his team’s 2-1 record and third-place finish in the just-completed Maui Invitational.
“Whenever you play a tournament, exempt tournament, everybody wants to go into it thinking 3-0. In this field, I guarantee you all the coaches were thinking 2-1 is a good trip,” Self said after the Jayhawks’ 69-60 victory over Tennessee in the consolation finals of the 40th-annual Maui tourney, held this year in Honolulu because of summer wildfires in Lahaina, usual site of the event.
“Now the two who are playing now, neither one’s going to be happy if they go 2-1, because they have already won two,” added Self, who was speaking just before tip of the Marquette-Purdue Maui final won by the No. 2-ranked Boilermakers (78-75).
“But I don’t think there’s anybody (in) this field that would walk away from here saying 2-1 was not a successful trip.”
KU’s 2-1 record included an 83-56 victory over NCAA Division II Chaminade, a 73-59 loss to No. 4 Marquette where tempers flared between the teams (and coaches) and a 69-60 win over No. 7 Tennessee, a team that beat KU in the finals of the Battle 4 Atlantis last November.
“Well, it was a great win for us,” Self said of beating the Vols. “We struggled last night obviously (vs. Marquette). To bounce back in 13 hours to play a team as good as Tennessee and to hang in there under some fairly adverse conditions for some of our players, it was just a terrific win, one that we’ll look back on in February being very thankful we got it.”
The tournament field also included No. 11 Gonzaga and a UCLA team receiving votes while finishing outside of the top 25 last week.
KU received some inspirational play during the three-day tourney from forward KJ Adams, whose mom Yvonne, died on Friday. Adams flew with family members to Honolulu in time for Monday’s game against Chaminade.
Adams scored eight points and dished four assists playing 26 minutes against Chaminade. He had three points, three assists and two rebounds in 33 minutes against Marquette and finished with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting with four rebounds in 33 minutes against Tennessee.
Adams was 1-of-6 from the free throw line versus Tennessee and 1-of-2 vs. Marquette.
“Guys, KJ is playing on fumes,” Self said. “KJ’s mom just passed. The courage he’s shown in playing — he’s totally fatigued, exhausted, hasn’t slept. He gave us more than anybody could ever expect he’d give us.”
A bright spot was the emergence of KU’s bench as a factor in the Tennessee game.
Freshman guard Jamari McDowell scored seven points and secured four rebounds in 27 minutes. Freshman guard Johnny Furphy had five points in 11 minutes. Senior forward Parker Braun had two points, two steals, two rebounds and a block in nine minutes.
Also, senior guard Nick Timberlake, who was limited to three minutes after getting hit in the head while diving for the basketball in the first half, had two points vs. the Vols.
KU’s bench had 15 points in the Marquette game with Furphy and Timberlake each scoring five points.
“The tournament was crazy,” KU senior center Hunter Dickinson said. He had 17 points and 20 rebounds against Tennessee and 13 points, eight rebounds against Marquette.
“To be able to go against the No. 4 team (Marquette) and No. 7 team (UT) right after that the next day, less than 12 hours (apart), it was great for us. (It was) really good for the young guys to experience some high level basketball early in the season. When you get down to the (NCAA) tournament and keep winning, there’s only going to be really good teams left, For them to experience it early and grow from that, this will be big for us down the stretch,” Dickinson added.
Dickinson, by the way, felt personally responsible for KU’s one loss in the tourney. Marquette big man Oso Ighodaro scored 21 points with nine rebounds and two blocks against the Jayhawks. Dickinson countered with his 13-point, 8-rebound night.
“I know I let the team down yesterday with my performance. I wanted to come out there and give more defensively. I knew that’s where I let them down yesterday,” Dickinson said. “I had to come with more energy, try to affect the game on both sides, come out do whatever I could for the team.”
KU will next meet Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28, at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks then will meet UConn at 8 p.m. on Dec. 1.
