Nothing quite does the smelling-salts trick for a senior athlete quite like seeing the finish line not too far in the distance. Too few games are left to waste any of them by blowing opportunities. Sometimes, seniors finish with a flurry nobody quite knew they even had.
Sasha Kaun, Kansas University’s 6-foot-11 senior reserve center, has that look about him lately, the look of a guy who just started his kick to the tape. He played with such passion in Monday night’s 90-71 victory against rival Missouri inside Allen Fieldhouse in front of the loudest home crowd of the season.
Kaun packed a full game’s worth of production into 13 minutes of playing time, drew as many spirited ovations as anybody and even got caught up in the emotion himself. Normally, the only change in his expression comes when he slowly opens his mouth to pull out his mouthpiece. After one of his two and-one buckets Monday, Kaun jumped into the air and kicked his legs. What it lacked in style it made up for in originality. He’s not that accustomed to celebrating his own feats. He’s on the robotic side, which can be a good thing after plays, but not always during them.
After the game, he was asked what had gotten into him lately.
“I don’t know,” Kaun said. “It’s getting toward the end of the season. Maybe I’m starting to wake up a little. Coach told me to be a little more active, a little more loose on the court.”
Asked and answered.
Kaun totaled 12 points, four rebounds (all on the offensive glass) and two blocked shots. In the past two games, Kaun has played 34 minutes and produced 24 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Wait, it gets better. He made six of seven free throws in the Colorado and Missouri victories. Honest.
KU coach Bill Self routinely refers to his “seven starters,” meaning his starting five, Kaun and Sherron Collins. As rapidly as active, skilled, driven freshman post player Cole Aldrich is improving, Kaun could have been in danger of getting bumped out of his role as the first big man off the bench, if not for the recent upward trend in his performance.
Aldrich, not as strong and not nearly as experienced as Kaun, has a much higher ceiling as a basketball player. He’s a smoother offensive player, an even better shot-blocker and a more productive rebounder, in part because he has superior hands. Aldrich totaled six points and nine rebounds in 12 minutes against the shorter Tigers (13-10 overall, 3-5 in the Big 12).
Aldrich has three more seasons after this one to make his mark. Kaun’s running out of time, which makes every game he plays in the Fieldhouse a potentially memorable one. The crowd got a huge kick out of the “Star Trek” video that played on the board, the one in which Captain James T. Kirk, over-acted by William Shatner, hollers the name of his evil rival, “Khan,” over and over. With each holler during a timeout, the crowd roared louder. Kaun was busy receiving coaching.
“I heard about it,” Kaun said, laughing. “I’ve never seen it, but I’m definitely going to try to look at it before I leave here.”
The finish line is creeping into Kaun’s conversations more and more lately. He’s not getting all weepy about it or anything, but he is letting a little more Captain Kirk into his Mr. Spock emotional makeup. It suits him well.
