“I was just looking at my reflection in the camera and seeing if my teeth were straight,” Gooden said with a laugh to a throng of TV, radio and print reporters.

With just under eight minutes remaining, Gooden knocked noggins with Tech forward Pawel Storozynski going for a rebound and was whistled for a foul.

“My two front teeth, I guess, went into the guy’s head and my whole front grill just went numb,” Gooden said. “I spit and luckily no teeth came out of my mouth, so I was all right and my feeling started to come back.”

Fortunately for Gooden, Storozynski took the brunt of the damage, and although there was some pushing and shoving after the foul on Gooden, neither player took the incident personally.

“I looked at the guy and he had blood dripping from his head,” Gooden said. “I guess he had to go back and get stitches. I told him I was sorry when he came back out, slapped him on the butt and we just played from there.”

Having Bob Knight on the opposing bench wasn’t a distraction for Gooden, either, but the legendary coach’s presence did cause the forward to commit a career-first before the game.

“All the year’s I’ve been here so far, I’ve never, during the announcements, ran over and shook a coach’s hand,” Gooden said, “but I saw Bobby Knight over there so I ran over there and shook his hand because I knew it was the chance of a lifetime to play against him. He’s a historical coach and he’s a great coach.”

Gooden scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season, tying him with Danny Manning for third place on the school’s all-time single-season list.

Those 21 points also moved Gooden past Jerod Haase and into 21st on KU’s all-time scoring list.

Although his offensive statistics vaulted him up on both lists, Gooden said he still needed to improve on the other end of the court.

“You’ve got to be consistent,” he said. “My offense is consistent my defense is not. I’m not going to nitpick my game, but deep down I think I can be a better defensive player.”

Gooden showed at least one flash of defensive brilliance Saturday, forcing Tech guard Ronald Ross into a five-second violation late in the first half.

Gooden made a three-pointer on the ensuing possession and grabbed a rebound on Tech’s next shot, but then tried to do a bit too much.

“I brought the ball down and got my shot blocked,” Gooden said. “Coach sat me down and was all like, ‘We know you’re a smart player so let’s not do stupid things.’ I came back two times and I made the right bounce pass and coach said, ‘I knew you weren’t a stupid player. Everybody knows you’re not a stupid player now.'”