Look who’s in Providence with High Point hoops ... he’s a former Kansas Jayhawks guard
In KU basketball’s ‘Where are they Now?” department, former Jayhawks guard Bobby Pettiford on Wednesday was in Rhode Island representing High Point University at the NCAA Tournament.
Pettiford, a 6-foot, 190-pound senior guard from Durham, North Carolina, played sparingly in 14 games for Kansas’ 2022 NCAA championship team. He played 32 games in the 2022-23 season before transferring to East Carolina and then on to High Point in a back-to-back portal transactions.
On Wednesday he joined teammate D’Maurian Williams at a table in the interview room at Amica Mutual Pavilion, site of Thursday’s first-round contest between High Point and Purdue (11:40 a.m. Central Time).
Pettiford earned MVP honors at the Big South postseason tournament, propelling High Point to its first-ever spot in the 68-team Big Dance.
“Some of us teammates have been at this level (before). The energy is unmatched here,” he said.
Pettiford scored 17 points to help the Panthers battle back from a 15-point deficit in a 81-69 win over Winthrop in the Big South Conference’s title game on March 9.
“You can calm down, take some time to think, take it all in, enjoy it and know it’s a business trip as well,” added Pettiford, who earlier in the season scored the go-ahead basket with 10 seconds left in a Cayman Islands Classic championship game victory over Hampton.
During his sophomore season at KU, Pettiford hit a game-winner at the buzzer in a 69-68 overtime victory over Wisconsin in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. That helped the Jayhawks advance to the title game. At the time, he charged hard from 10 feet beyond the 3-point line, raced in to grab the rebound of a Zach Clemence 3-point miss and flipped it off the backboard through the goal with two-tenths of a second left.
“That was an athletic play,” coach Bill Self said at the time. “Jalen (Wilson) kept the ball alive. Bobby catches it in midair, somehow gathers and shoots it from the other side of the rim with the right English (on it). It was a terrific play. I mean if he thinks about that he doesn’t make it,” Self added. “That was natural (athletic ability). Fortunately he got it up with 0.2 left. I don’t know if he can make it again in 10 attempts, but it was good he made the one he did.”
Known for responding at the end of games, Pettiford also hit a viral halfcourt game winner against Kennesaw State during his junior year, his one season at East Carolina.
Of his most recent heroics garnering MVP honors in the postseason tourney at High Point, Pettiford said: “It gives me confidence. We had to talk at halftime, regroup. It shows ups and downs. It shows we can keep the same mentality and keep fighting.”
Pettiford will always cherish having been a member of the KU team that erased a 15-point halftime deficit in the Jayhawks’ 2022 title win over North Carolina.
“Every kid grows up and this is your dream to be on this stage and compete with the best of the best. It’s a blessing to be here,” said Pettiford, who has averaged 8.9 points a game on torrid 59.1% shooting (104-of-176) for Hight Point.
He’s made 8 of 19 three-point attempts (42.1%) and dished 99 assists to 37 turnovers while coming off the bench and playing 21.4 minutes per contest.
High Point, which takes a 26-5 record into its game against Purdue (22-11), could be a Cinderella team in this year’s tourney. That’s the possibility afforded first-time NCAA participants.
With an enrollment just 6,200, High Point is located in High Point, North Carolina, not far from Pettiford’s hometown of Durham, N.C.
“Me being from Durham, it’s an hour away,” he said. “I wanted to come back home. I saw the guys had been through the tough times and when I saw how they (under second-year coach Alan Huss, formerly at Creighton), flipped the program around, it was hard to not want to be part of it, the campus and all that.
“This is something we talked about since Day One in the summer. Coming here we wanted to make history. At High Point, we know what it takes at this point in time and our fan base rooting for us. It feels good to be here.”
KU junior forward Zach Clemence said he hopes for the best for Pettiford in the NCAA Tournament.
“He was one of my best friends on the team,” Clemence said Wednesday. “I’m proud of what he’s doing, so I hope he does well in the tournament. He’s had a bunch of clutch moments over the past couple years. I’ll root for Bobby. We were together for two years. We’re brothers.”
