Melvin Council dunked late in KU-Mizzou. Here’s why Bill Self was OK with it
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- KU secured an 80-60 win over Missouri; Council’s late slam closed scoring.
- Bill Self defended the dunk, saying both teams were playing and it was full-speed play.
- Council had nine points and eight assists; Tre White supplied 20 points, 13 boards.
Kansas senior guard Melvin Council Jr. secured a defensive rebound with nine seconds to play, then raced down the court and flushed a vicious slam dunk to conclude the scoring with five seconds left in the Jayhawks’ 80-60 victory over Missouri on Sunday at T-Mobile Center.
The slam certainly pleased the KU portion of the crowd, which was listed at 15,407. However, it might have angered some Missouri spectators considering Council could have elected to run out the clock with the final result not in doubt.
“I actually thought that would be one of the first questions,” KU coach Bill Self said in his postgame interview session. “I didn’t think the dunk was inappropriate because of the speed he (Council) was coming at and they (Tigers) were grabbing him by the shirt at the time, trying to slow him down and all that stuff.
“I think if it hadn’t been happening so fast, I think that it would be inappropriate. I think depending on what perspective you come from, they came down their very next possession and threw a lob trying to dunk it. So, it wasn’t like there were three seconds left and everybody quit playing. Everybody was still playing at that time, so I thought it was OK.”
Council finished with nine points, eight assists and five rebounds in 36 minutes.
“I thought Tre was great,” Self said of senior Tre White who had 20 points and 13 rebounds in 36 minutes. “You could make a case that Tre was the best player in the game, and you can make a case Melvin was the best player in the game second half, because Melvin created all the pace when we kind of distanced ourselves a little bit.”
Missouri coach Dennis Gates was not asked about the dunk in his postgame news conference.
Dunks at the end of games can be controversial, of course.
On Feb. 3, 2016, KU’s Brannen Green flushed a soft two-handed dunk at the end of a 77-59 home rout of Kansas State.
On that occasion, Self opened his postgame news conference by apologizing to “the K-State team, their program, coaches and players.”
Self said at the time the dunk showed “poor sportsmanship.”
Also, Monmouth’s George Papas on Nov. 16, 2019, stole the ball from KU’s Tristan Enaruna as Enaruna tried to run out the clock, the visiting player stealing the ball and dunking to conclude the scoring in Monmouth’s 53-point loss at Allen Fieldhouse.
“That is uncalled for,” said Monmouth coach King Rice after that game. “That is not what our program represents, and is not what our program stands for. You get beat by a better team, you shake their hand and you walk off the court and you take in the experience.”
