It’s not often you see a player transfer coming off the heels of a Final Four appearance. However, this was the case with Kansas guard Rylan Griffen, who helped Alabama reach its first Final Four in school history last season.
Griffen averaged 11.2 points per game for Alabama last season. He scored 19 points in the Sweet Sixteen game against one-seed UNC. However, he still thought he could accomplish more with a change of scenery.
“It was definitely a tough decision,” Griffen said. “Obviously I was leaving a good team, but I just think I had more in store. I wanted to come do it for a different team and play for a different team now.”
Kansas shot 33.2% from three-point range last season, ranking 223 out of 351 Division 1 teams. The addition of Griffen immediately addresses that, as he shot 39.2% from downtown on 189 attempts. Griffen said fitting the needs of the Jayhawks’ roster was one of the reasons that drove him to Kansas.
“Kansas just stood out with the roster they had, with the need they had for shooting,” Griffen said. “I felt like it was a good fit for me to just come in and do what I do.”
Bill Self called Griffen a really good shooter and said he was brought in to fill the need for a scorer. Griffen said Self tries to get the best out of him and detailed what his role for the Jayhawks might look like.
“Just to move without the ball, make shots, defend, just how to play better off-ball defense,” Griffen said. “[He’s] just trying to get the best out of me every day.”
Griffen has had to adjust to a different play style at Kansas. Alabama under Nate Oats seeks to play at a lightning-quick tempo and relies heavily on analytics. At Kansas, the Jayhawks still look to play up-tempo, but it’s channeled in a different way.
“Playing fast at Alabama is more how fast can you get up a good shot, or how fast can you get up a shot,” Griffen said. “At Alabama, they wanted early shots in the early shot clock. Here, they want us to go fast, but they want us to take good shots, not necessarily just a shot early in the shot clock… Two great systems, but I love this system and I think I’ll be good in this system just like last system.”
Each conference in college basketball comes with its own flair, whether it be the style of play, body type, or something else. Griffen talked about the differences between SEC and Big 12 basketball.
“In the SEC, there’s a lot more athletes, more up-and-down, fast tempo. It’s like that in the Big 12 too, but also the Big 12 has a bunch more skilled players, players that can do pretty much everything,” Griffen said. “SEC has a bunch of big, long athletes that will dunk on your head, make shots, which the Big 12 has more of that too, but also Big 12 is like, to me, it’s a different type of game… You’ve got older players that can do more. It’s a little slower than we played at Alabama but still fast.”
Griffen is one of eight newcomers to the Kansas roster this season, with six transfers and two freshmen. He’s said the team has done a good job of meshing off the floor, which will lead to success on it.
“I feel like we’ve meshed together good, off the court we’ve got good chemistry,” Griffen said. “On the court, we’re still learning each other a bit, but I don’t think it’ll be that much of a problem because off the court we have such a great relationship.”
