The 16,300 fans in Allen Fieldhouse sat in stunned silence as power forward Wayne Simien crashed to the floor and landed on his surgically repaired right shoulder in the first half of Friday’s basketball game between Kansas University and Tennessee-Chattanooga at Allen Fieldhouse.
Simien, who had shoulder surgery in March, picked himself off the floor, showing no ill effects from the fall sustained as a result of a hard foul by Alphonso Pugh, who nailed the 6-foot-9 forward as he drove toward the goal.
“I heard a lot of gasps in the crowd,” Simien said following KU’s 90-76 victory. “I’m glad it happened. It helped me confidence-wise because I didn’t think I could take a fall like that, ever.”
Simien was asked if the hard hit and tumble showed his shoulder was solid as ever.
“Yep, yep,” he said after scoring 21 points off 7-of-12 shooting, including perfect 7-of-7 free-throw shooting.
KU coach Bill Self also cringed as Simien hit the deck.
“I didn’t know if it was his right shoulder,” Self said. “We’ll all take a deep breath when he goes down. But he is strong. His shoulder is strong. He’s not holding anything back.”
“He has not been himself,” Self said of Graves. “The thing is, sometimes when you are not yourself and want something good to happen, you don’t check in the game and shoot a turnaround jumper from 12 feet (as Graves did upon entering in first half after coming off bench). You play to your strengths.”
Graves, Self said, will have to adjust to his role as sixth man this season, noting freshman David Padgett — who had 13 points and 10 boards — had solidified himself as a starter.
“That all could change, but as of now, Jeff has to adjust to coming off the bench and giving us production,” Self said. “I told him, ‘You don’t have to make a great play to stay in the game, just be Jeff.’ Sometimes we get out of character. His knee probably didn’t allow him to play as he is capable.”
Graves should not miss any time because of his bruised knee, Self said.
The dunk energized the crowd, but wasn’t too spectacular, Giddens noted.
“It felt good. I didn’t even feel like I was in my own body,” Giddens said. “I was in a different world. I was like, ‘Man, J.R., don’t mess this up.’ In practice I’m used to catching it and ‘freaking’ it backward or pumping it, something real nasty. I just wanted to catch it and make it.”
“I’d have been hearing about that until my senior year,” Padgett said with a grin.
“Of course I am thinking about him. I can only go out and do my best. I can’t use that to hurt my game, hurt my team,” Langford said.
One of the scholarships was for men’s basketball. The Special Olympics clinic will be sponsored by the men’s hoops program.
“Wilt Chamberlain was the greatest player to ever play at the University of Kansas and one of the of the greatest athletes of all time in any sport,” Self said. “Personally, I wish I would have had the opportunity to meet and get to know Wilt, but I never did. However, on behalf of our basketball program, we’d like to thank Wilt, his family and the estate for making such a generous donation for the university and the KU men’s basketball program.”
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