No. 1 Kansas moved to 6-0 on the season after beating No. 11 Duke (4-2), 75-72 on Tuesday night. After walking off the T-Mobile Arena court in Las Vegas, Nev., Bill Self delivered a strong message to his team.
After making his way inside KU’s locker room late on Tuesday night, Self, before celebrating with his team and coaching staff, labeled his team as some bad mother———-. Even before Self was able to get the words out of his mouth, the smile that appeared on his face said everything you needed to know about how he was feeling immediately following KU’s win over Duke.
As Self made his way to the middle of the locker room, the celebration was on in Las Vegas, Nev. After watching the locker room celebration a couple of times, a few things Self said to his team stood out to me late last night.
First, Self said KU’s win over Duke was as good a win that they’ve had in the regular season in a long time. He followed that up by telling his team toughness wins, poise wins, and defense wins. Self told his team that they did all of those things against Duke, for the most part.
“I’m really proud of you, and now you know why I’m on your asses because those are the kind of games that big boys play,” Self told his team late on Tuesday night.
Make no mistake about it: KU’s win over Duke was big. I mean, it was a big win for Self and the Kansas program. When Hunter Dickinson was ejected with 10:26 left in the game, I was immediately curious to see how Kansas would respond.
I’m not sure how you guys felt, but I somewhat felt that Duke, with just about every ounce of momentum on its side, would slowly begin to take control of the game. Clearly, I was wrong.
Just looking back at the game, Dajuan Harris was an absolute star with 14 points, three rebounds, nine assists, just two turnovers, and three steals. His last two assists of the game couldn’t have been any bigger. Trailing by two points with 5:32 left in the game, Rylan Griffen squared up from behind the arc and drilled a three, which gave Kansas a one-point lead. Assist No. 8 for Harris came when Kansas trailed by two and ended up giving the Jayhawks a one-point lead.
With under two minutes left in the game, Zeke Mayo, with the game tied, drilled a jumper, which ended up giving Kansas the lead for good. As it turned out, Assist No. 9 for Harris ultimately gave Kansas the lead for good.
AJ Storr had another double-digit scoring night (11 points), Zeke Mayo came up big with 12 points, two rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Just looking at the second half, he converted two big free-throws to put Kansas up two, dished out an assist with 3:33 left in the game that put KU up by three points and hit a jumper that gave KU the lead for good with 1:57 left on the clock. Rylan Griffen drilled a three when KU was trailing by two, converted a layup and free throw that put KU up by three, and with three seconds left in the game, sealed the win with a steal and two free throws.
Flory Bidunga came up big with six points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes of action. All eight points came in the second half. When Dickinson was ejected from the game, Bidunga answered the call.
His stats don’t do justice to his performance on the court, but KJ Adams scored eight points, pulled down two rebounds, dished out three assists, blocked three shots, and finished with three steals. The energy, intensity, and passion he plays with on both ends of the court can’t be duplicated. You either have it or you don’t, and Adams has it.
These are just some individual performances that stood out to me when going over some notes from last night.
I could probably spend all day talking about the game and I was really impressed with the way Kansas responded. You never want to see a player get ejected, but I thought Flory Bidunga stepped up big for Kansas.
I was up half the night sick as a day with some type of bug/flu, so I’m hoping all of this makes sense. If you have any questions, I’ll be checking the board all day/week.
After making his way inside KU’s locker room late on Tuesday night, Self, before celebrating with his team and coaching staff, labeled his team as some bad mother———-. Even before Self was able to get the words out of his mouth, the smile that appeared on his face said everything you needed to know about how he was feeling immediately following KU’s win over Duke.
As Self made his way to the middle of the locker room, the celebration was on in Las Vegas, Nev. After watching the locker room celebration a couple of times, a few things Self said to his team stood out to me late last night.
First, Self said KU’s win over Duke was as good a win that they’ve had in the regular season in a long time. He followed that up by telling his team toughness wins, poise wins, and defense wins. Self told his team that they did all of those things against Duke, for the most part.
“I’m really proud of you, and now you know why I’m on your asses because those are the kind of games that big boys play,” Self told his team late on Tuesday night.
Make no mistake about it: KU’s win over Duke was big. I mean, it was a big win for Self and the Kansas program. When Hunter Dickinson was ejected with 10:26 left in the game, I was immediately curious to see how Kansas would respond.
I’m not sure how you guys felt, but I somewhat felt that Duke, with just about every ounce of momentum on its side, would slowly begin to take control of the game. Clearly, I was wrong.
Just looking back at the game, Dajuan Harris was an absolute star with 14 points, three rebounds, nine assists, just two turnovers, and three steals. His last two assists of the game couldn’t have been any bigger. Trailing by two points with 5:32 left in the game, Rylan Griffen squared up from behind the arc and drilled a three, which gave Kansas a one-point lead. Assist No. 8 for Harris came when Kansas trailed by two and ended up giving the Jayhawks a one-point lead.
With under two minutes left in the game, Zeke Mayo, with the game tied, drilled a jumper, which ended up giving Kansas the lead for good. As it turned out, Assist No. 9 for Harris ultimately gave Kansas the lead for good.
AJ Storr had another double-digit scoring night (11 points), Zeke Mayo came up big with 12 points, two rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Just looking at the second half, he converted two big free-throws to put Kansas up two, dished out an assist with 3:33 left in the game that put KU up by three points and hit a jumper that gave KU the lead for good with 1:57 left on the clock. Rylan Griffen drilled a three when KU was trailing by two, converted a layup and free throw that put KU up by three, and with three seconds left in the game, sealed the win with a steal and two free throws.
Flory Bidunga came up big with six points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes of action. All eight points came in the second half. When Dickinson was ejected from the game, Bidunga answered the call.
His stats don’t do justice to his performance on the court, but KJ Adams scored eight points, pulled down two rebounds, dished out three assists, blocked three shots, and finished with three steals. The energy, intensity, and passion he plays with on both ends of the court can’t be duplicated. You either have it or you don’t, and Adams has it.
These are just some individual performances that stood out to me when going over some notes from last night.
I could probably spend all day talking about the game and I was really impressed with the way Kansas responded. You never want to see a player get ejected, but I thought Flory Bidunga stepped up big for Kansas.
I was up half the night sick as a day with some type of bug/flu, so I’m hoping all of this makes sense. If you have any questions, I’ll be checking the board all day/week.
