What a night it was for Johnny Furphy. With parents, Richard Furphy and Liza Alpers, in attendance, Furphy, the 6-foot-9, 202-pound guard from Melbourne, Australia, scored a career-high 23 points and pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds.
In helping lead No. 7 Kansas (16-3; 4-2) past Cincinnati, 74-69 on Monday night, Furphy hit 7-of-8 field goals, 3-of-4 shots from behind the arc, and 6-of-9 free throws. In his last three games, Furphy is averaging 17 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 52.9 percent from behind the arc.
Furphy, shortly after his career-high, talked about his performance against the Bearcats.
“Yes, this is their first home game,” said Johnny Furphy when talking about his parents being in attendance. “I was happy they could experience that because I’ve been telling them a lot about (Allen) Fieldhouse and Kansas basketball.
“I’m happy they got to see a win,” he added. “Coach Self, he just wants me to show aggression, defensively and offensively. He knows that I can go get a rebound, so he’s given me the license to try and get on the offensive glass as much as possible. I’m just having a good time.”
In the first half of Monday night’s Big 12 matchup between No. 7 Kansas and Cincinnati, Furphy scored 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field, including 2-of-2 shooting from behind the arc. In 17 minutes of action, Furphy was perfect (2-of-2) from the free-throw line, pulled down six rebounds, and was credited with two steals.
In the second half, Furphy, in 19 minutes, tallied 13 points and five rebounds. Offensively, he converted 4-of-5 field goals, 1-of-2 shots from behind the arc, and was 4-of-7 from the free-throw line.
Bill Self, late on Monday night, talked about the performance of KU’s star freshman.
“Yes, he's settled into the role and he’s gotten us off to a good start all three games,” said Self. “That’s him, more than anybody else, that’s gotten us off to good starts. I mean, he played great. Offensively, he’s terrific, he’s great in transition and can really run. That’s two games in a row that he’s been our best rebounder, which is a bad sign for other guys.
“Without him on the boards, we would have really had it handed to us today,” he added. “To me, he was the best player in the game.”
While Furphy was the best player on the court for Kansas, he wasn’t the only player to shine against Cincinnati.
Kevin McCullar, Jr., scored 20 points, pulled down five rebounds, dished out five assists, and was credited with three steals in 35 minutes of action.
KJ Adams, Jr, tallied 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, and one steal, while Hunter Dickinson added 10 points and six rebounds.
Dajuan Harris, in 37 minutes of action, scored eight points, pulled down one rebound, dished out eight assists, committed five turnovers, and was credited with two steals.
Elmarko Jackson was the only player to score off the bench for Kansas. With 10 seconds left in the game, Jackson, after behind fouled, calmly stepped to the free-throw line and converted both attempts.
Aside from being outrebounded, 40-29, KU’s bench was also outscored, 32-2.
“Yes, I think there is some concern,” said Self when asked about KU’s bench scoring just two points against Cincinnati. “The two bench points came with 13 seconds left --- on free throws. So, they basically outscored us, 32-0, from the bench. I don’t know if that’s ever been heard of in a team win. Of course, that’s how Wes (Miller) plays.
"Wes has got guys and whenever you don’t start, obviously, (Dan) Skillings and he comes off and he gets 14 points, or whatever, in the first half," he added. That’s obviously a bonus and we don’t have that luxury.
In all, Elmarko Jackson, Parker Braun, Nicolas Timberlake, and Jamari McDowell saw time off the bench for Kansa. Jackson was 2-of-2 from the free-throw line, while Braun and Timberlake were a combined 0-of-2 from the field.
"I guess if we brought Johnny (Furphy) off the bench, we would have more bench points,” he added. “We’ve got to get more production from that, but they didn’t play much, either. Parker (Braun) played plenty and Elmarko (Jackson) played 10 minutes, or whatever. Elmarko played 12 and Parker played 10, so we can get more out of that.”
In getting back on track against Cincinnati on Monday night, Kansas, as a team, shot 24-of-52 (46.2%) from the field, 6-of-14 (42.9%) from behind the arc, and 20-of-28 (71.4%) from the free-throw line.
The Jayhawks dished out 17 assists to 11 turnovers and finished the game with 12 steals. However, against Cincinnati, Kansas was pounded on the glass, 40-29.
“Well, we just didn’t rebound it well,” said Self. “We’ve rebounded it great, up until a certain point. We’re not going to be a great rebounding team. We need to be a good rebound team and that’s what our ceiling is, to be a real good rebounding team.
“We need to be an opportunistic offensive rebounding team, which we’ve actually done a decent job of,” he added. “That team we play tonight is, without question, one of the best rebounding teams in the country, and we didn’t do a great job in that regard. But I also think, long rebounds and balls going and balls going through our hands, that’s not actually blocking out. That’s just attacking the ball and we’ve got to do a better job attacking the ball.”
