Bill Self sees KU’s Kevin McCullar as All-American. He’s improved in this key area
Kansas first-team All-America candidate Kevin McCullar had an off-day shooting the basketball Saturday afternoon against Wichita State.
The 49.4% marksman hit five of his 14 shot attempts and was 0-for-4 from 3 in the Jayhawks’ 86-67 victory at T-Mobile Center. He still managed to score 20 points for the fifth time in the last six games, however, by going 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
McCullar, a 6-foot-7, 212-pound senior combo guard from San Antonio, Texas, has converted 22 consecutive free throws dating to the KU-Indiana game on Dec. 18 in Bloomington, Indiana.
“It’s great, but I’ve never ever thought a guy played good or bad because he made his free throws,” KU coach Bill Self said after the Jayhawks wrapped up the nonconference season with a 12-1 record. WSU is 8-5.
“But when you don’t shoot the ball well from the field, that’s a good way to make up for that. Get to the free throw line. You don’t even think that he’s really done much and you look up and he’s got 20 points and seven rebounds, two assists, one turnover and a couple of steals. And you don’t even think that he really did much today, but that’s what good players do,” Self added.
For the year, McCullar has converted 75 of 88 free throws for 85.2%. He’s getting to the line far more often than a year ago, when he hit 65 of 78 free throws (in 34 games) for 83.3%.
McCullar went 8-for-8 from the line in KU’s previous game, a 75-60 win over Yale on Dec. 22 at Allen Fieldhouse. He hit 13 of 16 on Dec. 18 versus Indiana, In the three games prior to that he was 8-of-9 against Missouri, 5-of-5 against Kansas City and 6-of-6 against UConn.
McCullar’s 0-for-4 line from 3 Saturday dropped his season 3-point percentage under 40.0% He’s made 37.7% of his 3s. He entered the game 40.8% from beyond the arc.
“Kevin is playing lights out,” Self said. “My dad would always tell me, ‘If you have to make shots to play well, you are not a player.’ Now some guys do need to make shots to play well. Kevin is one of those guys (where): If he makes shots, great. If he does not make shots, he will still find a way to look really good.”
Self added: “In our mind, he’s an an All-American. He’s played at a level that few have to this point of the season. J-Will (Jalen Wilson) did. Ochai (Agbaji) did the year before.”
McCullar averages 20.4 points and 6.9 rebounds a game.
“He’s on pace with those guys. He’s playing with so much confidence. He’s one of the best defensive players in the country,” Self said.
KU will next meet TCU at 1 p.m Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
