There is no failure to communicate on Kansas University’s men’s basketball team.
Case in point: All the chatting, yelling and motivating that took place in Thursday night’s 81-60 victory over Illinois State at Allen Fieldhouse.
The verbiage that received the most publicity is head coach Roy Williams’ animated speech at halftime. The 13th-year coach was as miffed as he’s ever been following the Jayhawks’ nine-turnover, 40-percent shooting performance the first 20 minutes.
“Coach really blasted us. He had things to say and he said them pretty loud,” KU forward Jeff Carey said. “I thought we deserved it. He was upset we were so unfocused. No matter who we are playing, nobody should ever outwork us.”
Interestingly, Williams wasn’t the only coach to speak at halftime, KU up, 33-25.
“Coach Dougherty (Neil, assistant) said we can’t forget we have to work to make things happen,” Carey said. “Sometimes we think we work hard in practice and it’s just going to happen in the games. We can’t forget to roll up our sleeves and do the work that’s going to make it happen.”
It was so serious a situation some of the players also took the floor.
“Halftime was a wakeup call,” sophomore guard Kirk Hinrich said. “Everybody had a chance to sit down. Coach said some things. The seniors said something.
“It’s horrible the way we played and we were still up by eight. The first half was lackluster, but everybody stepped up the second half. It’s good to see how we responded to what coach had to say.”
Williams also had some things to say at the first TV time out. That’s when he pulled five starters for the unlikely combo of Carey, Lewis Harrison, Mario Kinsey, Luke Axtell and Nick Collison. Williams was dismayed at the early effort of Hinrich, Jeff Boschee, Drew Gooden, Kenny Gregory and Eric Chenowith.
“He was mad. He said, ‘You guys are not doing what you are supposed to be doing.’ He said, ‘If you guys don’t come out and play you will not play the rest of the game,”‘ Gooden explained. “It’s not embarrassing. He’s shaking you up so you get your act together.”
The coach didn’t say much to the five reserves who entered. “He just said, ‘You guys go in,”‘ noted Carey. “No words needed to be said. We knew what was going on. We had to pick it up.”
KU’s reserves outscored Illinois State, 7-1, then the starters re-entered.
“Coach said, ‘See how easy it is?”‘ Gooden said. “We’ve got to pick it up.”
Chenowith gave some examples of other forms of communication not only at Thursday’s game, but all KU home games. He and fellow seniors Gregory and Axtell provide words of inspiration at various junctures.
“We have up to eight times we say something before the game,” Chenowith said. “Coach gives us our pre-game talk. We go to the end of the hallway (outside locker room) and say, ‘Let’s do it.’
“We run out and warm up. With 12:30 on the clock, we do the little whatever (shuffle drill) coach wants us to do. We meet before ‘One Nation, One Flag (national anthem).’ That’s three times we meet.
“We do our pregame prayer. That’s four. We go in a huddle after that. That’s five times. We run out for starting lineups. That’s six. We get in another huddle. That’s seven. The starters get together in a huddle. That’s eight times we come together and say, ‘Hard work.’
“The seniors are the ones who do the talking. Sometimes I’m at a loss what to say. It’s like, what do you say every time? One time I’ll say, ‘Let’s do it.’ Another time I’ll say, ‘This is our house; let’s protect it.’
“Kenny (Gregory, senior) might say, ‘You guys know what to do; let’s go!’ I mean we do a lot of talking. It’s like we are brothers; it’s like a bond.”
Williams demands the Jayhawks speak while they are playing defense.
“You talk with your teammates on the court; yell out screens, yell ‘deny,'” Chenowith said. “Coach wants us to talk and show grit on defense.”
The talking doesn’t end after the game, either. Williams meets with the team in the locker room, then meets with the media in KU’s Hadl Auditorium where he’ll speak for up to 15 minutes.
Players who are requested by the media gather in the old men’s basketball locker room for up to 20 minutes. Fans await the players in the hallway for some quick autograph signing and chit-chat.
Finally, it’s out the fieldhouse doors as the players head home.
“We could sit here and talk for 15 minutes,” a weary Williams told the media Thursday night, “but it’s still ugly.”
