Kansas' Aussie Connection Helps Make Quick Work of Oklahoma State
STILLWATER – The highlight of the night came when Assistant Athletic Director for Track and Field Dave Smith and his team watched the banner raised to the ceiling of Gallagher-Iba Arena for their Cross Country National Championship in November, the NCAA Championship No. 53 for Oklahoma State. That had to be the highlight because Kansas came out and took control early on the strength of their new Austrailian sharpshooter Johnny Furphy. Kansas kept the Cowboys at bay throughout after building their lead and the No. 3 Jayhawks cruised 90-66.
The freshman from Melbourne, Australia, Furphy, was also a standout in Aussie Rules football and cricket in high school. His older brother is a professional in Australian Rules football. Oklahoma State has a former walk-on basketball player in 6-11 Mason Cox that has become a star down under. Furphy is becoming a star up and over as he was a perfect five-for-five from the field and three-for-three from three-point range in the first half beating his career high with 15 points.
KU was quick to begin with big man Hunter Dickinson with a turnaround for 2-0. On the other end Bryce Thompson missed a quick three and Furphy off the miss steaked to the basket for a 4-0 start. The next sequence Thompson threw the ball away and Kansas K.J. Adams Jr. fired the ball into Furphy for another lay in and a 6-0 lead.
Javon Small scored the Cowboys first points with a step back in the paint to make it 6-2. Things just compounded as freshman Brandon Garrison came over to close on a wide open driving Adams and was called for goaltending and it was 8-2. Kansas has not been a major three-point shooting team but the threes kicked up that Jayhawks lead with Kevin McCullar Jr. hitting the first one from the wing for a 15-6 lead.
The most damaging sequence on the scoreboard and from a motivational standpoint came when Furphy got the pass down to the baseline corner in front of the OSU bench and bombed the three to make it 28-12. Moments later Furphy ran across the paint for an offensive rebound and passed it out to Adams. Furphy then went back to his spot and Adams found him for another three right in front of the Cowboys, 31-14 KU leading.
There was another Kansas moment and this time it completely quieted the Oklahoma State crowd as Small drove inside and slipped and then forced a shot that Kansas grabbed and threw the ball down to the other end to a streaking Nicholas Timberlake off the bench and Timberlake jammed the ball through one-handed. The lead was 46-27 and the building was absolutely quiet.
Bryce Thompson lead the Cowboys in the first half with nine points but it came on 3-of-8 shooting and 1-of-4 from three. The one made three came at the buzzer but Kansas led 48-33. Kansas shot 68 percent the first half. The outrebounded Oklahoma State 16-8 and Kansas had 15 assists in the first half alone.
“Offensively, we played pretty well with the exception of a couple of possessions. Yes, I liked what Furphy did. He played and shot the ball really well,” KU head coach Bill Self said going into halftime on the ESPN broadcast. “We need to do a better job of getting on their shooters.”
“If you told me that Hunter had eight at the half I would have felt pretty good, but we didn’t take care of the other things,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton said. “Our offensive turnovers fueld them and allowed Furphy to go five-for-five and have 15 points at the half. We knew we were still going to have to handle those other guys.”
The second half started with Kansas outscoring the Cowboys 4-0 the first couple of minutes. That doesn’t sound like much but it expanded to 13-to-6 six minutes in and then 21-to-8 eight minutes in. There was no making up ground. Kansas kind of coasted to the victory. It was comfortable.
The highlight of the second half was Thompson crossing the 1,000 point mark for his college career, but hard to celebrate any milestones when you are getting beat like they were by Kansas on their home floor. Thompson did finish as the leading scorer with 20 points. Brandon Garrison and Jarius Hicklen each had 10 points.
Furphy did not hit a shot in the second half and finished with 15 points. Dickinson was the main offensive engine early in the seocnd half and he had 21 points to lead the Jayhawks. All five Jayhawks starters were in double figures with McCullar with 18, Adams 16, and Harris had 11.
“We got beat by a really damn good team,” Boynton said to the Cowboys radio network afterwords. “For us to beat them we would have had to play really well and to hang with them we had to play well. We didn’t play well. This team has a lot to grow into and get better from and I’m ready to see where we can go with this group.”
Kansas looked every bit like the No. 3 team in the nation, maybe better. Oklahoma State looked like a team looking for a first conference win. Getting that win will have to be easier against somebody else.