Thanks to [Wednesday night’s 74-65 loss to Washington at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.,][1] Lagerald Vick now owns the distinction of being the only player on the 2017-18 KU basketball roster to set his career high in a losing effort.
It’s a bit of a rare thing for a player at Kansas to post a career-high in a losing effort. But it has happened.
In fact, Frank Mason’s 30-point game in a loss to Indiana in last year’s season opener was a career-high at the time and Mason’s final collegiate career high of 32 points came in a losing effort against Iowa State later in the season.
Andrew Wiggins, the future No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft, also set his Kansas career high of 41 points in a losing effort at West Virginia during his lone season at KU.
So it’s not as if Vick is in poor company here. But, generally speaking, the biggest games from KU’s best players are delivered in victories.
Just take a look at the rest of the roster.
Nine of the 11 other Jayhawks on the 2017-18 roster — freshman Billy Preston and newcomer James Sosinski have yet to score a point in their KU basketball careers — set their career highs in wins. And all but two of those have come this season.
The two that didn’t?
Malik Newman’s career best of 25 points came in January of 2016, when Newman helped Mississippi State knock off arch rival Ole Miss. And Sam Cunliffe’s career high of 23 points came in an Arizona State victory over The Citadel early last season before Cunliffe transferred to Kansas.
While this certainly does not mean anything, good or bad, for Vick or the team the rest of the way, it is at the least mildly interesting. What’s more, it seems like a safe bet that if Vick goes on to top the 28-point total he posted on Wednesday night, it likely will come in a Kansas victory.
After all, the reason Vick got loose for his 28 points on Wednesday — a total that easily could have been more if a couple of close-range misses had fallen through — was because the Huskies made it there game plan to let him go and try to beat Kansas elsewhere.
The plan worked. This time. But it’s awfully uncommon for a KU opponent to purposely try to allow one guy to score all of the points while still keeping their sights on winning the game.
Here’s a quick look at the current career highs of every eligible player on the 2017-18 KU roster:
| KU player | Career High | Opponent | Season | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devonte’ Graham | 35 | vs. Toledo vs. Syracuse |
2017-18 | 96-58 KU win 76-60 KU win |
| Lagerald Vick | 28 | vs. Washington | 2017-18 | 74-65 KU loss |
| Svi Mykhailiuk | 27 | vs. South Dakota State | 2017-18 | 98-64 KU win |
| Malik Newman | 25 | vs. Ole Miss (at MSU) | 2015-16 | 83-77 MSU win |
| Sam Cunliffe | 23 | vs. The Citadel (at ASU) | 2016-17 | 127-110 ASU win |
| Udoka Azubuike | 21 | vs. Oakland | 2017-18 | 102-59 KU win |
| Marcus Garrett | 13 | vs. Texas Southern | 2017-18 | 114-71 KU win |
| Mitch Lightfoot | 11 | vs. Oakland | 2017-18 | 102-59 KU win |
| Chris Teahan | 4 | vs. Toledo | 2017-18 | 96-58 KU win |
| Clay Young | 3 | vs. Tennessee State | 2017-18 | 92-56 KU win |
| Billy Preston & James Sosinski |
N/A | Neither player has scored a point for KU yet |
TBD | TBD |
[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2017/dec/06/zone-busted-washingtons-strategy-flummoxes-no-2-ka/
