College Station, Texas ? The hotel beds in Texas are as soft as anyplace else.
The pregame meals are no tastier than other locales.
And the rims in the gyms are no different from ones in buildings all over the land.
So, why has Kansas University senior Jeff Hawkins played the best basketball of his career in the Lone Star State, site of tonight’s KU-Texas A&M contest (7 p.m., Reed Arena)?
“I don’t know. Is the weather good down there? Maybe it’s the weather,” Hawkins, KU’s 5-foot-11, 180-pound guard from Kansas City, Kan., said with a grin. “Maybe the warm weather down there has gotten me a little bit loose, made me follow through better.”
Hawkins scored 15 points off 5-of-5 three-point shooting in an 86-66 victory last season over Baylor in Waco, Texas. He also exploded for 19 points and sank five threes in an 85-66 victory over TCU his sophomore season in Fort Worth. In both, he unquestionably was the star of the game.
“I remember them. I don’t forget ’em, but I can’t sit and think about those and how I shot the ball then, because then doesn’t really matter. Now is what matters,” Hawkins said. “I’ve got to worry about what I can do to help the team.
“It doesn’t matter doing it in Texas. I just want to be able to shoot the ball on a consistent basis regardless of where the game is at.”
Hawkins enters today’s game on a roll. He swished five threes in five tries and scored 17 points in Saturday’s 96-54 rout of Nebraska. It was his best game since a 4-of-8 three-point effort and 19-point outing against Yale on Jan. 4.
“I don’t think I am streaky,” said Hawkins, who had missed his last seven three-point tries over four games prior to the NU outburst.
“I am confident with every shot I shoot. Sometimes I can take bad shots, which can lead to people thinking it’s streaky. I can be too anxious in getting a shot. If I let the game come to me, I’m good.”
Hawkins, who has come off the bench the last six games after starting the first 11, opened the season slowly.
“I was going out there thinking, ‘Score, score, score,”‘ Hawkins said. “It was in my mind, ‘I’ve got to do this or that.’ I don’t have to go out there and make shots. If I do my role and take the open shot as it comes … I have to prepare myself and be ready to do that.”
Jayhawks coach Bill Self said Hawkins had the green light.
“Jeff is a good shooter,” Self said. “I have confidence when Jeff shoots the ball. He’s started the year 3-for-17. Since then, he’s shot the ball well (18 of last 37 for 48.6 percent). We need Jeff, Mario (Chalmers), Brandon (Rush) and Russell (Robinson) to be guys who can make 38, 40 percent of their threes. If they do those things, we’ll be a much better team.”
Hawkins admits he likes coming off the bench so he has time to study opposing guards’ tendencies.
“It’s good when I come in, heat up the (other) guard, create a turnover,” he said. “It brings energy not only to myself, but to my teammates. It gets ’em going. It’s what I’m used to after doing it last year. I’ll basically do any role coach wants me to do.”
