FLOOR BURN AWARD: KU vs OSU - Jan 18
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This was a tough game to pick a Jayhawk for floor burns, because this game was played above the knees. This was a tough game to pick a hustle player because the first half provided plenty of it, and the second have provided little.
If consistency is the name of the game, then Joel Embiid deserves a mention. His stats crept towards a triple-double, an achievement few players have reached. 13 points, 11 rebounds, 8 blocks and 1 steal… how could we ask for anything more from our center!
If inspiration is the name of the game, then Tarik Black is hands down the winner of this award! Tarik brought plenty of energy with him off the bench, along with the talent to thrash what little interior OSU had. Tarik went for 8 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block in just 9 inspired minutes of play. The only thing holding back Tarik in this game was the impressive play of the man who has taken his place, Joel Embiid.
If surprise is the name of the game, Jamari Traylor deserves his moment in the spotlight! Jamari brings his own brand of energy with him off the bench, along with surprise play, usually just when we need it most. Jamari scored 9 points, 3 rebounds and 1 block in 18 minutes of play.
All of these guys deserve plenty of credit for contributing to this win. One more would be Naadir Tharpe, who continues to burn the nets… this time, a team-high 21 points off of 7-of-8 shooting. Tharpe contributed more than points… he also lead the team with 6 assists and 3 steals. From reading up to this point you may ask, “why doesn’t Tharpe win this award?” Because Tharpe also had a team-leading 6 turnovers! He has to realize how important it is to take care of the ball. So much of the positive he brought to this game he negated with turnovers.
The man who takes the FLOOR BURN AWARD for this game scored only 6 points, and missed a couple of crucial free throws down the stretch. He is one of the shortest guys on our team, but when we needed him most, he played some tall basketball!
Frank Mason is the winner of the FLOOR BURN AWARD in this game! Frank got his hand on the ball, preventing two possible scores, within the last minute of the game. When the game was on the line, Frank played big… slapping the ball loose to prevent a score within the last minute, and slapping the ball loose on Le’Bryan Nash’s winning last-second 3-point shot!
How many times have we seen this play out before? The most recent, and notable, was last year in March against Michigan. Our boys come and play over 39 minutes of inspired basketball, only to flounder in the final moments… giving up a last-second jump shot to lose. 39 minutes of building stats that, in the end, go only towards building a loss.
We can hustle for 39 minutes (we didn’t this time, but I’m making a point) but if we go soft at the end, we typically take another loss, and with the loss comes 39 prior minutes that we might as well played soft.
The game is 40 minutes long. Right now, I’m only sure that Frank Mason understands that fact!
Conference Season Tally:
Frank Mason 1
Andrew Wiggins 1
Joel Embiid 1
Naadir Tharpe 1
Tarik Black 1
Wayne Selden 1
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@drgnslayr : just a great flipping post!
“He is one of the shortest guys on our team, but when we needed him most, he played some tall basketball!”
Best flipping sentence you ever wrote. I gauge these things by how much it makes me want to strap’em up and go play. I’m out in front of a basket in a snow storm finishing this reply! I’m too old to be doing this, but if I gotta go it might as well be with ball in hand!
Rock Chalk!
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@drgnslayr @jaybate is right. This is a great post and I agree that Frank deserves the award. Thanks
