Kansas sophomore guard Malik Newman (14) smiles with senior Devonte' Graham (4) during a free throw Tuesday in an exhibition game vs. Pittsburg State at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas sophomore guard Malik Newman (14) smiles with senior Devonte' Graham (4) during a free throw Tuesday in an exhibition game vs. Pittsburg State at Allen Fieldhouse.

There was a moment during last Friday’s 102-59 Kansas victory over visiting Oakland that demonstrated perfectly the value of Devonte’ Graham the leader.

Late in the first half of the easy Kansas victory, sophomore guard Malik Newman caught a pass in transition and hesitated near the 3-point line. Newman’s indecisiveness cost KU the possession and he was whistled for traveling when he finally did decide to act.

As the Jayhawks walked back down the floor on defense Graham glared at Newman and told him, in so many words, to drive the ball instead of hesitating. Newman tried briefly to explain himself, but was not interested in having a long discussion about it. That worked out well because Graham wasn’t interested in hearing it.

After a few seconds of chatter and a couple of subtle eye rolls, the Jayhawks forced a missed jump shot and the rebound came to Newman.

Guess what happened next?

Rather than passing, hesitating or even so much as looking anywhere else for instruction — to Graham, to the bench, etc. — Newman raced the ball up the floor, drove hard to the rim and finished a layup through contact for an old-fashioned three-point play.

That put the Jayhawks (5-0) up 53-24 with 1:07 to play in the half, but the score hardly mattered. What was most important was the fact that Graham’s, we’ll call it encouragement, worked to perfection and inspired Newman to get aggressive.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Malik Newman (14) gets in for a bucket past Oakland guard Stan Scott (12) during the first half on Friday, Nov. 24, 2017 at Allen Fieldhouse.

The crowd roared, Newman remained stoic and Graham looked pleased.

KU senior Svi Mykhailiuk, who has been around his good friend Graham for three-plus years, said that style of leadership is a staple of Graham’s.

“When somebody messes up, he doesn’t yell at them and show everybody that he messed up in the game,” Mykhailiuk said. “He’ll just calmly say something or help him out in that way because he knows, when you do that, you just pull the confidence down of players.”

On the very next possession, Newman swiped a steal and again drove hard to the rim for a layup that put KU up 55-24 with 51 seconds to play in the first half.

In 39 seconds of game clock, Newman had come to life, thrown up five points and snapped out of a pseudo funk that had plagued him during the first few games of the season.

It’s not as if Newman has looked bad out there. Far from it. More that he has looked passive, unsure and a little hesitant.

Whether the exchange with Graham and the sequence of events that followed winds up being responsible for putting Newman on track remains to be seen. But the early returns sure look promising.

Not only did the first-year Jayhawk respond to Graham’s prodding with back-to-back drives to the bucket, but he also drove to the rim with purpose for another layup and 3-point play during the opening minutes of the second half.

After this one, with the crowd again roaring and Newman’s teammates high-fiving him on his way to the free throw line, Graham stood near mid-court with both arms flexed in support of his buddy.

That’s leadership. That’s experience paying off. That’s why Bill Self has called Graham as good a natural leader as the program has ever had.

And that’s why Graham, when he could be caught up in getting his and trying to put up gaudy offensive numbers, is constantly on a mission to get his teammates going and inspire this team to play its best.

Graham can win Big 12 player of the year honors without the help of his teammates. But he can’t achieve his ultimate goal of winning a national title without them.

“When people make mistakes, he can easily show you where you messed up and help you fix it quick,” said KU freshman Marcus Garrett. “That’s what makes him so good, he’s just able to help everyone else and do what he needs to do on the court. It seems like he’s been through everything before, which he has, so it makes it a lot easier, having someone like him.”