Bill Self on the KSU game, Travis Kelce, and much more
Bill Self talked about the quality minutes the Jayhawks got from the bench in the Jayhawks win over Kansas State.
Self talked the conference race, Trace Kelce at the game and much more. See what Self had to say word-for-word after the win over Kansas State.
Self opening comment…
Well, I thought we played pretty well. I don't think we guarded them very well the second half, because we fouled them every possession. But that's not the way that I don't think Jerome or myself would want the second half to go, because I think both teams were in the bonus with 12:00 left, or 13:00 left. And so, you can't be defensive on defense and that's when you usually foul the most.
But I actually thought we did some good things early. We shot it well early, and of course had some rhythm. And we didn't shoot it near as well the second half, and probably didn't execute as well the second half. But we did some good things. Hey, their guys are hard to guard now. Noel and Johnson are hard to guard. And Tomlin when he gets going downhill, his long strides, he's hard to stay in front of. They've got a good team, and I actually thought we did a good job for the most part. Our bench was terrific. Best our bench has been all year.
Tang said Jalen didn't get 38, Gradey didn't get 20, the other guys beat us tonight. Can you keep that going getting that help from the other guys…
Self: Well, I think unfortunately, because of injuries, it's been squeezed down. So, everybody's going to know, those nine are going to know, they're going to get a chance to get in the game more than likely, although Zach didn't at Kentucky. But when you look at our big guy, I can't remember exactly what did we get? 16 and 12 or whatever, from that position in 40 minutes. That's pretty good for us. But it wasn't KJ, because KJ was in foul trouble. So Ernest and Zach did good work.
And I thought Bobby and Joe gave us some good minutes. And MJ said he couldn't go so because of his back, so we were limited there. And of course, when Bobby tweaks his ham. And I think KJ dislocated or broke his finger, I don't know if that's what happened, but that's what I thought at the time. I mean, we were just limping home, and fortunately, we got to the finish line.
With Jalen, I think the stat is the most points by a Kansas player in a five-game stretch in the Big 12 era…
Self: Yeah, 133 is a pretty good number for a five-game stretch. And unfortunately, we go 2-3 in those five games. And he's usually scored the most points when we've labored the most offensively, which is a sign of a good player. So tonight, we were able to spread the wealth a little bit, but still he was the main guy that got us off to a good start
What's your assessment of how Bobby Pettiford has stepped up…
Self: I think our bench has done better as a whole, but Bobby's done well. I just hope his hammy's not bad, because that's a tough one to play with. But he was explosive today. He didn't shoot it from the perimeter, we got to the cup. And he's a good defender. And it may not seem like much, but with the foul trouble we played through with Gradey and Kevin and KJ, if our bench wasn't good, we don't win tonight. And so that was a good thing to see.
Has the game plan been more recently for Dajuan to attack the basket more…
Self: No question. He's got to look to score. We talk about that each and every day. He and KJ both need to look to score.
Bill, they really tried to cheat off some guys, and dare them to shoot. How important to get those other guys going out there…
Self: Well, we're going to be decent offensively, or pretty good offensively, if they have to guard five guys. I mean, let's just call like it is. And even if 'Juan misses, it's like throwing deep. There's the threat that he's going to shoot it. And Juan made the first one, and then he misses his next four, if I'm not mistaken, and then makes the last one. But I think Juan's a good (shooter). He does it in practice every day. We'll do shooting drills and he'll make more than Gradey and J-Will in shooting drills. I mean, so that's not unusual to see at all. He just needs to translate that to the game. And Kevin hadn't been able to throw in the ocean here of late, and he goes 2-3, even though he missed everything inside the arc. But he played well and rebounding the basketball. He's got to be as good a guard rebounder as there is in the country.
The Big 12 is a gauntlet what have you seen halfway through…
Self: Well, from a won-loss record, I have no idea. Five looks like a pretty good number, maybe six, but I don't know. I can't see anybody run the table the last nine games, I can't see that. But I've been wrong before. But for us to have a chance, we're going to have to go steal a couple and then hold serve at home.
But it's different though because even holding serve at home has become more difficult than what it ever has in years past. So, to me, it's a little bit early. 5-0, we're in great shape, 5-3 now we're looking up. And 6-3, if you'd have told me as many close games as we played, that's probably about where we deserve to be, to be honest with you. 7-2 would be fantastic, so we got to go play well at Ames and play well at home Monday, but I don't know what the number is, but I think five would be really looking good right now.
Travis Kelce was here what was his interaction with the team…
Self: He talked to everybody. Of course, the thing about it, I've been around him a little bit, and I'm not going to say we're boys or anything like that, but I've been around him a little bit. But the thing that amazes me, he's on top of his craft in a way that very few are in the world and he's great to everybody. I mean he treats everybody the same, and he was so excited. And I'm not talking about from a KU fan perspective, just so excited to be part of the energy and I can imagine every defensive player loving him as a teammate. I mean he's fun and I'm sure that if things go well in a couple of weeks, he'll be a ton of fun for the next month or so after that.
Are there too many whistles bad for the game? Is that a problem right now…
We've played games so far where neither team got to the bonus the first half. And we played this tonight was, I mean, both teams are in the double bonus with 10:00 left in each half or whatever close to it. So, a little frustrating, I think to probably players and coaches, but we've got to also learn how to adjust a little bit to. They're getting their marching orders and I'm sure they are, I haven't talked to anybody about it, but I'm sure they're getting their marching orders to call it tighter, that every time you listen to analysts talk about the rock fight in the Big 12, every game's a rock fight, this kind of stuff.
You hear about our game at Rupp the other night, talk about how physical we are. And you guys have seen us play, we're not even physical at all, but people have that perception. So that may play into it a little bit as well.
After Kansas State won the first time and stormed the court was there a pride factor…
Self: You know what? I think pride's a factor whenever you play an in-state school. I'll be honest with you, we talked about beating K State, but we didn't talk about beating K State because of that. We talked about beating K State in large part because they beat us the first time. And even though they won the game and deservedly so, we didn't do many things to enhance our chances of winning the game in the last few possessions of regulation and overtime. So, we felt like that it was one that could have gone the other way and our guys certainly were ready to play tonight.
Was tonight a must-win to stay with KSU in the conference race…
Self: I don't quite look at it, stay with K State. I look at it, stay with everybody in that upper, there's six teams in our league that can win our league and maybe there's more, but there's six teams that have a legitimate shot of winning our league.
I didn't look at it as staying with K State, but if K State gets this one today after they've won at Baylor and after they've won at Texas, you would say that they've gone to three of the four or five hardest places and come away with the W. And they've already played at Iowa State, so I mean their schedule tips to their favor. Now those teams still got to go to their place, but in those regards, their schedule kind of tips their favor because they've got a few of the toughest road venues out of the way.
Do you have an update on Kevin's hand and Bobby…
Self: I do not. Bobby tweaked his hamstring, but he came back, so that's good. And Kevin hurt his finger, which has been bothering him for a while and he came back, so that's good. But I don't have any idea past that.