Jayhawks have little Big 12 experience beyond Graham, Svi
photo by: Nick Krug
Kansas guard Devonte' Graham has his head wrapped in streamers as the Jayhawks celebrate following their 81-71 win over West Virginia, Saturday, March 12, 2016 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
The Big 12 tournament generally brings an uptick in intensity from the players. Given that the conference is loaded with bubble teams this year, intensity figures to soar to an even greater degree.
“As hard as Oklahoma State played against us on Saturday, that game, OU versus Oklahoma State, will be every bit as intense, and then whoever we play will be even more intense than what it was, what we saw Saturday, and we didn’t react favorably at all to playing a hungry, motivated team Saturday,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
Since Kansas didn’t respond well Saturday, Self is happy his players will follow that up with exposure to more of the same and then some in Sprint Center.
“That’ll be good for us,” Self said. “I said this earlier: (Udoka Azubuike) has never seen this. Malik (Newman), for sure, has never seen this. Marcus (Garrett) has never seen it. Mitch (Lightfoot) has never seen it. Silvio (De Sousa) has never seen it. Lagerald (Vick) has seen it a little bit, but really the only two that have been in the fire has been Devonte’ (Graham) and Svi (Mykhailiuk) when you’re going against hungry teams like that. That was probably good for us to see that, and I anticipate it being that at least plus some this weekend.”
A look at how the only Jayhawks to appear in Big 12 tournament games have fared:
photo by: Nick Krug
Kansas guard Devonte' Graham has his head wrapped in streamers as the Jayhawks celebrate following their 81-71 win over West Virginia, Saturday, March 12, 2016 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
DEVONTE’ GRAHAM
| Year: Opponent, result | Min. | 2-pt FG |
3-pt FG |
P–R–A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017: TCU, 85-82 L | 35 | 0-0 | 2-10 | 10–3–1 |
| 2016: KSU, 85-63 W | 34 | 4-5 | 1-5 | 11–3–8 |
| 2016: BU, 70-66 W | 38 | 1-1 | 3-7 | 14–4–8 |
| 2016: WVU 81-71 W | 34 | 1-4 | 5-6 | 27–5–4 |
| 2015: TCU 64-59 W | 24 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1–1–4 |
| 2015: BU 62-52 W | 11 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 4–1–0 |
| 2015: ISU 66-70 L | 24 | 1-5 | 1-1 | 7–3–4 |
| Totals: 5-2/Averages: | 28.6 | .450 | .414 | 10.6–2.9–4.1 |
photo by: Nick Krug
Kansas guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (10) heads in for a bucket past TCU guard Kenrich Williams (34) during the first half, Thursday, March 9, 2017 at Sprint Center.
SVI MYKHAILIUK
| Year: Opponent, result | Min. | 2-pt FG |
3-pt FG |
Pts–Reb–Asst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017: TCU, 85-82 L | 35 | 2-2 | 4-8 | 18–2–1 |
| 2016: KSU, 85-63 W | 17 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 6–4–3 |
| 2016: BU, 70-66 W | 10 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0–3–1 |
| 2016: WVU 81-71 W | 3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0–0–0 |
| 2015: TCU 64-59 W | 15 | 1-2 | 0-2 | 2–1–2 |
| 2015: ISU 66-70 L | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0–0–0 |
| Totals: 4-2/Averages: | 13.3 | .600 | .429 | 4.3–1.7–7 |
photo by: Nick Krug
TCU guard Desmond Bane (1) fights for a loose ball with Kansas guard Lagerald Vick (2) during the second half, Thursday, March 9, 2017 at Sprint Center.
LAGERALD VICK
| Year: Opponent, result | Min. | 2-pt FG |
3-pt FG |
Pts–Reb–Asst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017: TCU, 85-82 L | 35 | 3-6 | 1-4 | 9–6–2 |
| 2016: KSU, 85-63 W | 3 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0–1–0 |
| 2016: BU, 70-66 W | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0–0–0 |
| Totals: 2-1/Averages | 13 | .429 | .200 | 3–2.3–0.7 |
photo by: Nick Krug
Kansas forward Mitch Lightfoot (44) rejects a shot by Missouri guard Blake Harris (55) during the first half of the Showdown for Relief exhibition, Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
MITCH LIGHTFOOT
| Year: Opponent, result | Min. | 2-pt FG |
3-pt FG |
Pts.–Reb–Asst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TCU, 85-82 L | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0–0–0 |