Column: Kelly Oubre Jr. needs even more junkyard dog in his game

Kansas guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (12) loses the ball on a pass as he is defended by Baylor forward Rico Gathers (2) and forward Taurean Prince during the second half, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 at Allen Fieldhouse.

When Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self starts a sentence with, “If I’m not mistaken,” he’s not mistaken. Bank on it. His batting average is close to a thousand. When he says, “I could be wrong,” all bets are off.

On the day Perry Ellis surpassed the 1,000-point milestone, Self said he thought Wayne Simien, Keith Langford “and I think Sherron (Collins) are the only, I could be wrong, are the only 1,000-point scorers since I’ve been here.”

Plus seven others.

• Box score

Anyway, the 1,000-point discussion after Kansas’ amazing finish in a 74-64 victory against a tough, fearless, scrappy, unified Baylor squad led to someone asking freshman Kelly Oubre Jr. a question about him one day reaching the same mark at KU. It was the only moment of the day that Oubre sported the expression of a wide-eyed freshman.

“Put me on the hot seat right there, man,” Oubre said after an 18-point, six-rebound effort. “I don’t know if I’m saying anything.”

He didn’t, of course. Oubre ranks as most likely Kansas player to join the ranks of the one-and-done college basketball players because his long-range potential equates to guaranteed first-round money. He was wise enough to duck the question, knowing it’s a distraction from the task at hand, Kansas winning an 11th consecutive Big 12 title.

KU took a big step toward that with a sharp all-around 29-15 finish to Saturday’s game. Kudos to Scott Drew for making a major change to the 2-3 zone his team played against Kansas in Waco and to Self for making the right half-time adjustments to attack the clog-the-middle zone Baylor brought to Lawrence. Oubre played a big part in exposing the zone in both halves. He made 6 of 9 shots, including 4 of 6 three-pointers and in 24 minutes mixed in an assist and steal without turning it over.

Self’s momentary mental lapse regarding the career scoring list lent credibility to his contention that thinking about making shots is counter-productive. (Or maybe he just subtracts in his mind how many points every scorer’s man scored on him from each career total.)

Oubre’s blend of long arms, quick-jumping ability and quick feet make for an ideal combination for a disruptive defender who deflects passes and stops dribbles. Those qualities also give him great potential as a rebounder. But as is the case with most freshmen, consistency has not been his forte.

Starting with the second game of the Big 12 schedule, Oubre rattled off four consecutive double-figure scoring games and averaged 6.5 rebounds in them. In the next six games leading into Saturday’s, he reached double figures in scoring once and averaged 4.1 rebounds.

Asked what mindset Oubre needs to embrace to become more consistent, Self referenced a conversation he had the previous day with former Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, now scouting for the organization. In his playing days as a shooting guard for tough Chicago Bulls teams, Sloan was a rugged defender and a good shooter. He earned NBA first-team all-defense honors four times.

“To me,” Self said, “with guys who are kind of stat-stuffer-type guys, be worried about making plays that give your team the best chance to have good possessions. You know, defensive energy, scouting report, things like that. And when you worry about the right thing, I think you make shots.”

Self shared that Sloan told him that too many players have their minds twisted in the wrong direction, stuck in the wrong place.

Sloan, Self said, was, “saying that kids want to shoot good and then they’ll play good, but kids should want to play good and then it’s easier to make shots because they’re not focused on making shots.”

Sloan speaks from experience not just as a player, but as the coach of Hall-of-Fame talents Karl Malone and John Stockton.

“I think that’s the one thing with Kelly that I want to see consistency with because he’s a good shooter, but that’s not who he is,” Self said. “He’s a junkyard dog. He can do a lot of things, and when he’s worried about those things it just seems so much more natural for him to jump up and make shots.”

A junkyard dog who too often doesn’t flash his fangs because he has enough ability to impress dog-show judges as well with flashes of beauty to his game. The thought of Oubre frothing at the mouth on a consistent basis, eager to make the opposition play ugly, panicky basketball sends the imagination running deep into the NCAA tournament bracket. But can Oubre, at such a young age, bring that mentality into every game, home and away? Not many freshmen do. So far, he has averaged 12.3 points, shot .529 overall and .489 from three at home, 5.5, .291 and .136 on the road.

No better time than Monday night in Morgantown, W.V., to embrace the Self/Sloan junkyard dog mentality against crazy defensive pressure and a wild crowd to see if that brings better road results and impresses Sloan and the rest of the talent evaluators in the building.