Freshmen Julian Wright and Micah Downs, who had been playing well in the games leading up to the longest idle period on the Kansas University basketball schedule, spent most of Monday night watching teammates grind their way to a 63-43 victory over Pepperdine at the Fieldhouse.
Neither player got in the game in the second half, and each played seven minutes in the first half.
Wright, who still way too often brings the ball up the floor when he should pass it to a guard, committed three turnovers. Downs missed both of his shots from the field and both from the free-throw line and had three rebounds.
Coach Bill Self emphasized it was not a case of him not letting them play through mistakes, rather a case of them going out of their way to do the opposite of what they’ve been told to do.
Rather than play Downs for part of the time that Brandon Rush sat with two fouls, Self played three guards together. Russell Robinson played small forward during that stretch and finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
“They both had a chance, they just made some not-too-good plays,” Robinson said of the benchings. “When you’re trying to win games, you have to get back in the guys who are playing good and those are the guys who were in the game. It’s something they can learn from.”
Rush said he didn’t think his freshman classmates would hang their heads over the benching.
“I was surprised,” Rush said of the second-half benching. “He didn’t really say anything to them at halftime. All he said was they weren’t getting on the floor enough. I don’t think they’re down about it. They just feel bad they didn’t come with all they got tonight. I don’t think they’re down. They’ll just come to practice tomorrow, work real hard, and get back on coach’s good side.”
Of his own performance, Rush said, “I felt like I was going to come out on fire, then I got the two fouls, and never could really get it back.”
Reserve guard Mario Chalmers, though still struggling with his shot in both the accuracy and selection areas, played better than against University of California, when he committed six turnovers in 11 minutes.
Self continues to tinker with the point-guard position. Jeff Hawkins had one assist and four turnovers in 18 minutes. Stephen Vinson was scoreless in 16 minutes, but kept the ball moving and would have had more than his one assist if Sasha Kaun didn’t miss a couple of easy shots Vinson room-serviced him.
Asked to assess the point guard position, Self said: “Jeff’s had the flu. Stephen has been our best player, no question. And Mario’s our most talented. … It hasn’t been very good. Point-guard play is not about scoring points. It’s not about stats. It’s about when you’re in the game, your team is better.”
The Jayhawks have been at their best with Vinson in the game the past two games, and Monday, KU outscored Pepperdine by 16 points in the 24 minutes Chalmers played and by four points in the 16 minutes he sat.