When the arena lights are on and the Kansas basketball team is playing on a national broadcast, the newest big on campus, Silvio De Sousa, has yet to provide his head coach, Bill Self, with much incentive to keep the 6-foot-9 forward on the court.
In six games so far De Sousa never has played more than seven minutes. In the past two weeks, his cameos have ended even more abruptly — 2 minutes versus Baylor, 1 at Oklahoma, 2 against Texas A&M and 2 at Kansas State.
Self would like to have another player to fill in for Udoka Azubuike and Mitch Lightfoot in the paint. However, the coach admitted Thursday he still hasn’t totally determined what type of role to assign to De Sousa, who arrived in Lawrence in late December after graduating from high school early.
“I’d like for it to develop. He’s had a bad last two Big 12 games. You know, he had three turnovers in one minute,” Self began, referencing the freshman forward’s stat line at OU. “The other day, Wade (Dean, at Kansas State) gets six points, and (De Sousa) has a turnover in one minute. He really hasn’t had a chance to do much.”
Neither Self nor De Sousa’s teammates have come close to giving up on the 19-year-old from Angola, though, because the former five-star prospect at IMG Academy (Fla.) has displayed both progress and promise during KU practices, behind closed doors.
At times during the past several weeks, sophomore guard Malik Newman has witnessed the big man not resemble the still-learning post player who has only scored 2 points in 18 minutes over the course of six in-game appearances.
Whether it’s “some kind of crazy” dunk out of a screen and roll, soaring to swat a KU teammate’s shot attempt or simply grabbing a defensive rebound and sprinting the other direction to beat every other player down the floor for a dunk, Newman easily recalls examples of De Sousa forcing everyone in the gymnasium to take notice.
“Did Silvio just do that? Wow. I didn’t know he could do that,” Newman narrated of his reactions in those moments.
Self isn’t one to become as enamored with such examples if they aren’t coming regularly. But even the most demanding man watching De Sousa’s every move affirmed the freshman has made noticeable strides since joining the team just more than five weeks ago, instead of finishing out his senior high school season.
“I think his energy level is better. I think he goes after balls better. I think he’s an above-average rebounder when he’s doing those things,” Self appraised. “And you can just see the wires aren’t quite connecting, but they’re getting closer. I mean, there’s a chance that they may touch each other here pretty soon. They haven’t quite done that yet.”
Since being cleared to play for Kansas on Jan. 13, De Sousa’s far more public auditions to join the rotation haven’t looked nearly as encouraging. He committed 3 fouls in 2 minutes against Baylor. He only has attempted and made one shot during his 18 minutes on the court. In five of six games he didn’t secure a rebound. What’s worse, according to [sports-reference.com][1], his turnover percentage (an estimate of turnovers per 100 plays) currently stands at 83.3 percent.
“Right now I would say his head’s spinning,” Self said. “I mean, it’s spinning. It’s going too fast for him. He shows flashes in practice of being terrific. And he is going to be terrific. He just hasn’t been able to probably get the minutes nor the opportunities, nor is he quite confident enough for that to translate to the games yet.”
The man directly ahead of De Sousa on the Jayhawks’ depth chart, sophomore Lightfoot, trusts those hints at a more impactful freshman big man will turn into something more substantial for No. 7 KU (18-4 overall, 7-2 Big 12).
“He’s good. It’ll come to him. It’ll click. I remember first getting here. I thought everything was three times the speed. I was like, ‘Whoa. What the heck is going on?'” Lightfoot remembered of his first few weeks in the program. “It’ll come to him. He’s getting so much better each day in practice. And he wants to get better, so it’ll happen.”
While the process might be somewhat frustrating for De Sousa, Newman said the young backup has maintained high spirits.
“We know he’s got it,” Newman declared. “It’s just a matter of time of him getting comfortable in the system and just him translating from the high school to the college level, and just going out there and relaxing and playing.”
It’s possible Self could provide De Sousa with more game minutes to work through his miscues in the weeks ahead. The coach conceded Thursday he needs to keep the freshman in the game for longer stretches.
Self expressed that possible shift on Feb. 1, the date he for weeks has referenced as a mile marker for when he would have a better grasp of what this season’s roster could become.
But De Sousa has shown his coach just enough in practices to make Self delay his appraisal for the time being.
“I think we have a better idea of it. But we’re still not a complete team until he starts giving us more,” Self said, “because he’s very capable of being one of the better 6-7, 6-8 guys in our league.”
De Sousa’s next opportunity to prove himself worthy of more minutes comes Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse, when Kansas plays host to Oklahoma State (13-9, 3-6).
[1]: https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/kansas/2018.html
