Samford players speak confidently heading into first-round game against Kansas
Samford’s leading scorer and rebounder, 6-foot-9, 227-pound Australia native Achor Achor, is not interested in discussing any Kansas basketball players who will not be playing in Thursday’s first-round NCAA Midwest Regional game against the Jayhawks.
“No,” Achor said, proving to be a man of few words when asked at Wednesday’s media availability at the Delta Center if he had any reaction to KU coach Bill Self’s Tuesday announcement that Kevin McCullar (bone bruise, left knee) would not be playing during the NCAAs.
Jermaine Marshall, a 6-6 senior forward who averages 10.9 points and 5.1 rebounds (Achor averages 15.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg) heading into Thursday’s 8:55 p.m. contest, was willing to offer a take on playing KU without one of its two first-team All-Big 12 performers.
“I actually am kind of sad and disappointed that he’s not playing. I want to say I hope he gets healthy. I also want to play Kansas at their (full) strength,” Marshall said. “I don’t want to play Kansas when they’ve got guys out. I want to play the opponent at their best because I know we are at our best and I know what we can do at our best. I’m disappointed he isn’t playing actually.”
Achor did have a take on his going against 7-foot-2 KU center Hunter Dickinson in Thursday’s contest. Dickinson is ticketed to play despite suffering a dislocated shoulder on March 9.
“Honestly, I played behind a really good Logan Dye last year,” Achor said of the 6-9, 240-pound former Bulldog. “And me obviously not playing (much last season), I’m a competitor, I took it personal, honestly. I just took it on a mission this whole summer just to work every day, day in, day out. Honestly. In terms of matchup, it’s basketball. You know what I’m saying? It doesn’t matter if you are 7-5, 7-3, 6-2. At the end of the day, you have to step between the lines. That’s how I look at that.”
KU enters a 7-point favorite over the Southern Conference school.
“We don’t think anybody is better than us. We feel every time we’re on the court, we’re supposed to win,” Marshall said,
“I don’t feel like it’s an upset. I feel like we are going to win. When we win, it’s not going to be surprise to us. It might be a surprise to all the brackets that are going to be messed up, but it definitely won’t be surprise to us.”
“What you put in is what you get out,” Achor said. “We put in a lot of work for months. Us winning this game, no matter win or lose, I know we’re going to ball as hard as we can. That’s what really matters, to be honest.”
The Jayhawks insist they won’t take Samford lightly.
“Their team is centered on trying to get as many possessions as possible,” Dickinson said. “That’s why they are a top-5 team in scoring, a top team in forcing turnovers: They’re constantly trying to make sure they get up and down and have as many possessions as possible.”
Noted Dajuan Harris of playing a team that employs a full-court press: “We’ve just got to stay focused, follow the game plan. Coach knows what he is doing. Samford will be prepared. We’re going to have to take our timeouts, take a deep breath, be focused because they are a high-intensity team.”
The KU-Samford winner will meet the winner of the Gonzaga-McNeese State game in the Round of 32 on Saturday. The loser’s season is over.
