Wild locker room celebration held in honor of KU coach Bill Self on historic evening
Kansas basketball players and assistant coaches joined athletic director Travis Goff and chancellor Douglas Girod in a celebration for coach Bill Self held in a State Farm Arena locker room immediately after a historic 77-69 victory over Michigan State on Tuesday night in Atlanta.
Hunter Dickinson, star of the game, dumped an orange Gatorade container of water on KU’s 22nd-year coach just after Self entered and exclaimed, “Hunt! 28 and 12!” signifying the 7-foot-2 senior’s points and rebounds against the Spartans.
Other Jayhawk players, wearing “591” victory T-shirts that recognized Self becoming KU’s all-time winningest coach (591 wins to Phog Allen’s 590), then joined in and emptied individual bottles of water on their leader who, after watching the players form a tight huddle while chanting “591” accepted a Wilson basketball (with 591 sketched on it) from the chancellor.
Video of the celebration was shared on X/Twitter.
KU’s victory over the Spartans was Self’s 591st against 143 losses in 22 seasons as Jayhawk coach. He’s now winningest KU coach of all time, passing Phog Allen, who won 590 games against 219 losses in 39 seasons in Lawrence.
“Well, it sounds good. It sounds like I’m elderly, which I’m gaining on it,” Self said, asked about becoming the No. 1 KU coach in victories at the blue blood school.
“I didn’t have any idea what was going on,” the 61-year-old Self added of the locker room celebration. “I’d go back there and I figured it’d probably be the guys that are most ticked off at me that got me (with the water shower) the most.
“But yes it was great,” he added. “Having Frank (Mason) here and Rio (Mario Chalmers) … those two guys have been pretty good for KU. Having them here plus we had several key donors here and the chancellor and Travis and everybody, so it was nice. I didn’t expect anything. They made T-shirts out that look great on Doc (Sadler, staff member), which he’s modeling right now.”
Self continued, calling Tuesday night “a fun night. It’s been a fun trip.”
“I told the players if they don’t want them (T-shirts), I have a big family. I mean, they can get them and pass them out,” Self joked, adding, “I didn’t have a good feeling about this game. I think I told the coaches before the game, ‘Something just doesn’t quite feel right,’ and the way the game started, it was great. And then the way the game continued for about 10 minutes, it was, ‘Oh my gosh, maybe my feelings were real.’”
KU raced to an 8-2 lead, then struggled offensively en route to a 30-24 halftime advantage. For the entire game — one described as “ugly” by Self — KU hit 40.6% of its shots to MSU’s 34.8%. KU was 5-of-17 from 3 and 16-of-22 from the line. The Spartans were 3-of-24 from 3 and 18-of-21 from the line.
“He the greatest coach I’ve been around. It shows in Kansas history,” said senior point guard Dajuan Harris, who had 11 points and six assists against no turnovers. Harris was 7-of-7 from the line.
“I’m just glad I’ve gotten to be a part of it. He changed my life, my family’s life and he believed in me. So I believe in him. I trust him, and it is a reason why he’s got the most wins in Kansas history. So I just want to be a part of that,” Harris added.
Senior forward Dickinson also was enthused about being part of KU history on Tuesday.
“It’s really special,” Dickinson said. “He’s never going to admit it. He’s always going to try to downplay it and give off the credit, but he’s the best coach in Kansas basketball history. (It’s) super special and (we’re) fortunate to be playing for him.
“I know the fans realize that he’s the best coach to come through here. We’re just, like Juan said, trying to win more basketball games for him, try to make him even better than he is.”
Self was asked about overtaking Allen during his postgame session with the media assembled in Atlanta.
“I’ve always thought, if you take care of your business, all those things just take care of themselves at the end (of a career),” Self said. “But let’s not get this twisted, OK? Phog Allen coached there for 39 years. A building is named after him. He recruited Wilt (Chamberlain). He got Allen Fieldhouse built. He won a national championship in 1952. He coached the (Olympic) team. There’s a lot of things that he did in his time that goes unnoticed because (basketball) wasn’t near as popular as what it is now and is recognizable. So I’m not getting too carried away with that.”
The KU-MSU game was a matchup of teams coached by a pair of Hall of Famers in Self and MSU’s Tom Izzo.
“That’s a tough, hard-nosed team. They got a Hall of Fame coach, too, over there,” Harris said. “I know they prepared pretty well for us. We just wanted to play through our big fella. Coach drew up some great plays that we have and I just wanted to make plays for Hunter to make it look easy for him. Zeke (Mayo, 10 rebounds, seven assists, six points, 33 minutes) didn’t have a good game shooting the ball (2-of-8, 0-8 from 3) but he rebounded. He had seven assists, so I think it was a good all-around team win.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 7:30 AM.
