Bill Self warned his Kansas University basketball players about the perils of the road prior to leaving for Los Angeles last Friday afternoon.
“I told the guys, ‘First road game … usually something happens. We’ll have to play out of some situations. Something will go awry. We need to focus in and stay tough,'” Self said. “Look at DePaul last year, Maui the year before. Things happen sometimes when you go on the road for the first time.”
The Jayhawks, who squandered a 14-point second-half lead and lost, 64-57, to DePaul in KU’s first true road game of the season last year (KU did go 2-0 at the Las Vegas Invitational) and opened 1-2 in Maui the year before, survived some crazy happenings in a 59-55 victory over USC on Sunday at Galen Center.
Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush missed dead layups, while Russell Robinson had the basketball roll right through his legs at the top of the key as he fell to the floor and committed one of KU’s 22 turnovers (against six assists).
Yet those players all wound up contributing to a come-from-behind victory in KU’s initial road test.
“I thought we defended, rebounded the ball, played tough. Even though we didn’t play well, we competed hard,” Self said Monday in reliving the victory on his Hawk Talk radio show. “I’d take that over playing well, executing and not competing (because then) you have no chance.
“Toughness gave us an opportunity to win the game.”
Toughness as in Robinson holding O.J. Mayo to a 6-for-21 shooting performance and Chalmers scoring 17 second-half points, including a deep three that upped a two-point lead to five with 20 ticks left.
“Russell made him look average, to be honest,” Self said of the senior’s job on Mayo, who finished with 19 points. “The thing that amazes me (about Mayo) is when the shot clock gets to 3, 2, he can get a shot whenever he wants. Not many college players can do that.
“We kept guys fresh enough, and he never came out. I think that was a factor,” Self said of Mayo becoming worn out. “He took a lot of jump shots late because he was fatigued instead of attacking the basket.
“Russell did a fabulous job. Mario hit a huge shot. To me, Russell on the exterior – the way he defended – and Darnell (Jackson, 13 rebounds) on the interior were just key for us.”
Some of Self’s veteran players, including Sasha Kaun, who hit three of four second-half free throws, helped save the day.
“I’d say offensively, no, I didn’t think we played mature at all,” Self said of the Jayhawks, who hit 37.9 percent of their shots, including four of 17 3s.
“From a competitive standpoint I think it was a factor. There was enough experience out there. I felt the guys understood, ‘If we get stops we’re not going to lose.’ That’s what happened. We got stops. I’ve been on our guys since the beginning of the year: ‘We don’t guard and we don’t rebound.’ I can’t say that after yesterday. We did both those things. It was a good win. You should never take winning on the road for granted.”
Especially early.
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Injury update: Chalmers played well against USC despite suffering a strained groin at practice last week. Self said he’s OK and shouldn’t miss any time.
Tyrel Reed, who has missed the last two games with a sprained right ankle, “is not quite 100 percent, but not far off either,” Self said. “We could have played him (at USC). I didn’t think it was the right scenario for a guy (coming off injury).”
Meanwhile, tests on Sherron Collins have shown he’s healing well from a stress fracture of the right foot.
“Sherron could be back in days instead of weeks. It’s been three weeks today (since surgery),” Self said on Hawk Talk.
“A lot depends on how he responds to a little more serious rehab. Everything looks good. That doesn’t mean he’ll be back next week, this week. It means we’ll take it day to day and see how much he can continue to progress.”
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Recruiting: Self, who corralled five players in the early signing period, said recruiting is not over.
“We do need to sign another big guy,” he said, asked by a caller about big men prospects. “Marcus (Morris, 6-foot-8) is a big guy, but also a perimeter guy. We’ll need to go get us one more. There’s not a lot out there. We do think we have potential (to entice) one or two maybe not too many people know about now.”
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Legion leaves Kentucky: First-year Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie, whose team is off to a 4-2 start, has lost a promising freshman to transfer.
Alex Legion, a McDonald’s All-America guard out of Detroit, who averaged 6.7 points while logging over 17 minutes a game, missed practice Monday and informed his coach of his desire to leave.
Foxsports.com reports “the move primarily concerned Gillispie and not playing time.” The Web site said, “Don’t be surprised to see Legion wind up in the Big Ten.”
He considered KU for a time after asking out of his letter of intent with Michigan last year.
“You always hate to lose a valued member of your program, and Alex was definitely that,” Gillispie said. “He has tremendous potential as a player and a student, but most importantly, he is a wonderful young man. We hate to see him leave, but if he can be happier elsewhere then all you can do is wish him the best.”
