Kansas City, Mo. ? J.R. Giddens suddenly started shooting the basketball Saturday like he really, really wanted to go home this week — as in, his Oklahoma City home.
The Kansas University sophomore broke a team-wide three-point funk in the second half Saturday, answering a Daniel Bobik trey with the first of consecutive threes of his own, cutting Oklahoma State’s lead in half Saturday in the Big 12 Conference tournament semifinals.
OSU ended up winning, 78-75, but what quickly was looking like a dismal day from long range for KU turned out OK in the end, when the Jayhawks — after missing their first nine three-point attempts — hit five straight threes to keep their tournament-title hopes alive temporarily.
Giddens hit his final three threes and finished with 11 points.
“I don’t even know if I was feeling it,” Giddens said. “I shoot better if I don’t think, and I wasn’t thinking.”
Jeff Hawkins and Alex Galindo also drained threes during KU’s torrid stretch in the second half, but the consecutive-makes streak ended just before the buzzer, when Galindo’s last-second shot for the tie didn’t fall.
Still, coupled with Wayne Simien’s 30-point effort, KU showed for a time Saturday it can be the balanced team needed to win six straight in the NCAA Tournament. Hawkins, Galindo, Giddens, Aaron Miles, Michael Lee and Keith Langford — who expects to be back for KU’s first-round tournament game this week — all have proven capable from beyond the arc.
Now, it’s just a matter of getting a couple of them warmed up while still getting the rock to Simien inside.
“They did a solid job. J.R. stepped up and knocked down some shots,” Miles said. “But we rode Big Dub’s coattails. He was excellent, and we need to keep feeding him the ball.”
If the Jayhawks have it their way, they’ll be assigned to play first- and second-round games in Oklahoma City, the closest pod to Lawrence. Two schools play host to games in OKC, and it appears Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas all are in the running.
Giddens is from Oklahoma City, and he wouldn’t mind going back home to play in front of friends and family again.
“I want to play down there. That’s my home, even though they might boo me because I didn’t go to any Oklahoma schools,” Giddens said. “I think we deserve it. We’re a good team, and despite what other people say, we have confidence in ourselves. We’re ready to get things done.”
Multimedia:
Hear Bill, Joe, players: Oklahoma State postgame comments
Photo Gallery: KU vs. Oklahoma State
Get the stats: KU vs. Oklahoma State box score
Scorecard: Grade KU’s performance against Oklahoma State
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