It took a couple of days for Kansas University senior Nick Collison to forget all about last Saturday’s stinker at Oregon.
“He was disappointed. He was taking it personally. He felt he cost us that game,” KU coach Roy Williams said of his 6-foot-9 senior forward, who bounced back in a big way Wednesday night.
Collison scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the No. 20-ranked Jayhawks’ 89-80 victory over No. 17 Tulsa at Reynolds Center.
Williams had some words of wisdom for Collison in Portland’s Rose Garden parking lot after KU’s disappointing 84-78 loss to the Ducks on Saturday and again after practice Monday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“I ran into coach in the parking lot. He said to not get frustrated,” said Collison, who scored just seven points against Oregon. “Coach could tell I was frustrated. He told me to relax. I told him I was sorry for the way I played at Oregon. He just said to keep my head up. It helped.
“It was just good to know I had his support after playing a bad game. It’s always good to have the coach’s support.”
It turns out KU’s coach also had some soothing words for point guard Aaron Miles, who scored 15 points and dished eight assists against four turnovers while playing strong perimeter defense just four days after missing 10 of 11 shots and committing seven turnovers against Oregon in his hometown of Portland, Ore.
Williams met with Miles for a chat on Monday.
“I was thinking I embarrassed myself in front of my family and friends at Oregon. Well, maybe not embarrassed myself, but didn’t play as well as I could,” Miles said. “Coach and I meet a lot to talk about the team. I told coach I felt I was out of my game at Oregon. He felt the same way. He said he felt I could play better and would play better and we’d be all right.”
Williams was confident both Miles and Collison would bounce back nicely at Tulsa, most notably Collison, who seemed focused at a morning shootaround.
“He worked up a full sweat. His T-shirt was soaked at the shootaround,” Williams said. “I knew.”
“I always do that, though,” Collison said, grinning. “I work pretty hard at shootaround. It’s just a matter : you always want to play better than that. I obviously didn’t play well against Oregon. The only thing you can do after a game like that is come out and have a good one.”
Collectively, the Jayhawks (4-3) turned in a good one against 4-1 Tulsa.
Keith Langford and Wayne Simien scored 19 points apiece, helping pick up the scoring slack from Kirk Hinrich, who played rugged defense on the perimeter, but missed nine of 11 shots in scoring four points in 38 minutes.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Williams said. “We had a bad last three minutes of the first half. I got on ’em a little bit in the locker room. I thought we gave in to fatigue. They hit one at the buzzer. I told the kids to not give in. I told our kids, when something like that happens, most teams give in. Ours did not give in.”
Tulsa’s Antonio Reed swished a 30-foot three-pointer at the first half buzzer, giving the Hurricane a 40-36 halftime advantage.
That shocking bucket completed a stretch in which Miles was called for a backcourt violation in which he inexplicably strolled past halfcourt with the ball; Miles had a layup swiped off the rim by a Tulsa player with no goaltending call; and Hinrich appeared to be mugged while chasing a loose ball. The refs calling a tie-up which led to the Reed three. No matter
KU, which was down 45-38 one minute into the second half, went on a 12-0 run to lead 50-45 at 14:48. Langford, who was sensational with 14 points the second half, had six in that surge, while Simien had four.
“We preached patience at halftime,” Williams said. “And we came out and shot 60 percent the second half. I told the kids, ‘Can you think of one selfish play made the entire second half?’ Nobody could think of one. There were no selfish plays.”
KU used some solid play down the stretch to put away the Hurricane. Up 69-65, at 5:59, Collison scored four points and Miles three and the Jayhawks were up, 76-65, at 2:37. Simien hit a slam and foul shot and the Jayhawks led, 79-66, at 2:21.
Tulsa provided a scare in slicing the deficit to 79-73 at 1:28. The Hurricane took advantage of Langford misfiring on four free throws.
But Michael Lee hit two of four free throws, Miles and Collison two of two apiece and KU led, 85-73, at :35.
The Hurricane, who hit 52.5 percent of their shots, including eight of 12 threes, were stymied late.
“It may have been the best perimeter defense we’ve played in a long time,” Williams said. “Not just this year, but a long time. They made their first six threes, but two of six after that.”
KU survived a 23-point outing from forward Kevin Johnson, who hit 10 of 16 shots. Jason Parker and Dante Swanson had 15 and 14 points respectively.
The numbers added up to a KU victory and that’s all that mattered to KU coach Williams.
“We needed one. The kids needed one. The staff members needed one. Everybody needed one,” Williams said after exiting a happy locker room. “It’s great to be in the locker room. It’s the kind of thing I coach for.”
