Big 12 Basketball: Power Rankings in the home stretch
1. Kansas Jayhawks, 21-4, 9-3 Big 12
With 6:40 remaining in the second half on Saturday, Frank Mason fouled Jordan Woodard on a rebound, picking up his fourth foul, and putting Woodard at the line to tie the game at 59. With Mason on the bench, Oklahoma had all of the momentum, and many Jayhawk fans probably felt as if the team were about to lose another game after holding a big lead in the first half.
Kansas Jayhawks
But then Devonte Graham happened. Graham scored 13 points over the final 6:40 of the game, with 8 of those coming after Mason eventually fouled out at the 3:22 mark, and the Jayhawks won 76-72.
Every time the Sooners threw a punch, the counter-punch came from Graham. Ironically, just three days ago, Jesse Newell wrote about how Graham worked on his three point shot this offseason after realizing over the summer that opposing defenders kept going under screens on defense.
That paid off in a big way on Saturday, as Oklahoma clearly wanted to go under every ball screen for him. He finished with 27 points on 8-13 from the floor and 6-9 from three. Perhaps even more impressive, he held the player of the year favorite, Buddy Hield, to just 24 points on 5-15 from the floor. Not only did he force Hield into his worst performance of the season on offense, but he outscored him on offense as well.
I went back and took a look at every shot Hield took on Saturday so I could get a better idea of the impact Graham had on his bad day. With Graham guarding Hield, Hield scored just 14 points on 3-10 from the floor. Graham also forced him into 4 turnovers.
Where Hield did most of his damage was off of Oklahoma’s offensive rebounds, where he had 7 of his 24 points. Kansas held him to just 5 points in transition, a fantastic number as he usually feasts on those wide-open threes as teams scramble to find him. Much of that can be credited to Graham, who was glued on him all day.
More busting brackets: Jayhawks cement status as conference front-runner
Overall, Graham did a fantastic job on Hield, and somehow still had the energy to take over the game come crunch time. In a season full of uncertainties regarding the number-one team in the nation, Hield being the player of the year has been certain for some time now. But for one day in February, Devonte Graham looked like the player of the year. And it may have won the Big 12 for the Jayhawks.