Jayhawks relieved Griffin to return

By Gary Bedore     Jan 16, 2008

Nick Krug
Kansas guard Sherron Collins, left, puts in a bucket over Oklahoma's David Godbold. Collins is one of seven Jayhawks who have led KU in scoring during its last nine games, scoring 18 against Loyola-Maryland on Jan. 8.

Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self was relieved Tuesday to learn Oklahoma freshman forward Blake Griffin would not need surgery on his injured left knee.

“It’s great news in what could potentially have been a terrible situation. It’s not good, but better than what it could have been,” Self said, commenting on reports Griffin will be out up to four weeks after suffering a sprained medial collateral ligament five minutes into Monday’s 85-55 victory over the Sooners in Allen Fieldhouse.

“He’s a great kid from a great family,” Self added on Tuesday’s Hawk Talk radio show. “I thought our fans once again showed great class when Blake went down. They responded in a classy way (with loud ovation) when he was helped off the floor.”

Griffin was injured in battling KU senior Darnell Jackson for a rebound.

“He must have known he was falling wrong,” Self said. “As soon as he landed, he grabbed Darnell trying to brace his fall. It’s a sad deal. We played well, but OU of course wasn’t a whole team without Blake. I was looking forward to our guys getting an opportunity to guard him.”

Griffin leads OU in scoring (15.4 ppg) and rebounding (9.1).

“We’re very glad it’s not season-ending or career-threatening,” OU coach Jeff Capel said, issuing a statement on the injury. “But it’s a huge blow to our team. Blake is our leading scorer and rebounder and has been playing his best basketball. He was really starting to become the dominant player that we knew he could be.

“Blake’s injury affects our frontcourt depth, but it also presents an opportunity for other guys to step up. They have to be ready. We’re not going to make any excuses.”

Capel recently lost backup Keith Clark, who was declared academically ineligible last week.

OU (12-5, 0-2) will meet Texas Tech on Saturday in Noble Center in Norman, Okla.

¢ Balance: KU has had seven different leading scorers in the last nine games. That includes the Miami game, in which both Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson led the way.

“The guys like each other and share the ball,” Self said. “Balance is hard to guard. At the same time, in crunch time you need to know where you can go to get a basket. We are developing some guys who can get a basket late in the game.”

Self loves KU’s team chemistry exhibited in the OU win.

“They like each other. They are enjoying the process, fun to be around,” Self said of his players. “Like last year, egos have been checked in at the door.

“Russell (Robinson) sets the tone guarding the ball. Brandon (Rush) sets the tone making shots. Darnell (Jackson) set the tone by getting the opening tip and crammed it after he got it. Automatically the feeling was, ‘It’s going to be our night.'”

¢ Brett lauds KU: Baseball Hall of Famer George Brett attended Monday’s game and was interviewed by ESPN’s Holly Rowe, an interview now available on Youtube.com.

“Well, I live about 30 miles from here,” Brett said, asked why he was on hand. “I married a gal that went here (KU), and living in Kansas City, you’ve got to be a KU fan. So not only did they have a great football season, but they’re off to a great start in basketball.”

¢ Perfect in league so far: KU’s two league games have resulted in blowouts – 79-58 on Saturday at Nebraska and 85-55 Monday over OU.

“The last 48 hours we’ve played pretty well, at a pretty high level,” Self said. “We shot the ball well. Our first-shot defense was good for the most part.”

On Monday, Oklahoma ran into KU on a night both the fans and players brought their A-games. Enthusiasm was high for the Jayhawks’ Big 12 home opener.

“You get a feel in the locker room if they are excited to play. Last night was one of those games there was no reason to do a rah-rah deal to get them pumped up. You could tell they were ready to roll,” Self said on his radio show.

¢ Longar impresses: Self was quite impressed with Oklahoma senior center Longar Longar, who had 21 points off 9-of-18 shooting with five rebounds in 38 minutes.

“We tried to run him. All he did was get better,” Self said. “He had a great game. Some of his moves … they weren’t luck points. They were, ‘Catch it, go make a play, beat first defender, then second defender and score.’ You can see when he and Blake are together, that’s a formidable front line.”

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