Can Kansas go on a run? Here’s why Rylan Griffen, drawing on past experience, thinks so
Kansas combo guard Rylan Griffen’s passing skills have been on display the past two games, ever since coach Bill Self declared the Jayhawks’ record 0-0 entering the final five contests of the regular season.
Griffen, a 6-foot-6 junior from Dallas, has combined for 10 assists in victories at Colorado (71-64) and against Oklahoma State (96-64). That’s tied for the two-game lead with Dajuan Harris (10). Zeke Mayo has six assists and David “Diggy” Coit five the past two games for the Jayhawks, who will try to make it 3-0 in their so-called second season Saturday against Texas Tech.
Tipoff is 1 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse with a live telecast on ESPN.
Prior to this two game stretch, Griffen had dished 10 assists total in his last seven appearances.
He was asked if an increase in minutes (a season-high 32 against Colorado and 27 versus Oklahoma State) has resulted in his inflated stat sheet production.
“I think it’s helped my confidence for sure, just coming out knowing my team needs me and I have to be there for my teammates and my brothers,” said Griffen, a starter last season for Alabama’s Final Four team. “It’s just helped me play more confident, play more freely, and I want to help my team the best way I can. And that’s that’s mainly what I try to do when I go out on the court.”
Griffen for the year has averaged 6.9 points a game with 39 total assists against 26 turnovers in 27 games (14 starts). He’s averaged 19.9 minutes per contest.
“A lot of teams are starting to run me off the (3-point) line a lot more. It’s almost like they don’t want me to get a shot up,” said Griffen. He’s 4-of-12 shooting the past two games including 3-of-7 from 3. For the year he’s made 41.3% of his shots, 36.4% from 3.
“Just being able to drive close outs … I’m trying to get downhill a little bit more which is making a big (man) have to make a decision (on whether to help on Griffen). I think that’s pretty much why I’m getting more assists,” he added.
Griffen says the Jayhawks (19-9, 10-7) have bought into the “new season” mantra — one orchestrated by Self after losses at Utah and BYU preceding the the fresh-start OSU game.
“We just came with a new mindset. We came in the film room (after blowout loss at BYU) and Coach said, ‘Hey, we’re 0-0,’ which is something I could relate to because last year (at Alabama) we had a lot of losses too and games we shouldn’t have lost but we ended the season great,” Griffen said. “And now they look at that team as one of the best teams in the history of that school. So there’s still a lot to play for.”.
The Crimson Tide went 25-12 last season, losing to UConn in the Final Four semifinals. The Tide went 2-3 in the final five games of the regular season and lost to Florida in the first round of the SEC Tournament before winning their first four NCAA contests.
“We still have a big opportunity in front of us, and I think that was really the main message. Like yes, we may not win the conference, and that’s something that we really want to do, but there’s still a lot of things to play for, and we have a good enough team to make a deep run if we really want to,” Griffen said. “But we’ve got to start thinking like that now, and I like that we’re 2-0 right now, looking to go 3-0 on Saturday.
Unranked KU is closing the regular season with games against No. 10 Texas Tech, No. 4 Houston and No. 22 Arizona. The Red Raiders enter Saturday’s game 21-7 overall and 12-5 in the league.
“That’s just what has to happen,” Griffen said, “because in the (NCAA) Tournament, we’re going to be playing teams like this too. We have to be able to compete with these teams and string together multiple wins in a row, because that’s something that in the tournament you have to do to go deep. So this is like a mini tournament for us, just trying to win all these games right now, end the season great and end the season undefeated.”
