LAS VEGAS
Kansas’ Kohl Rosario and Jamari McDowell weren’t exhibiting poor sportsmanship in each attempting a 3-pointer in the final eight seconds of the Jayhawks’ 71-60 second-round Players Era tournament victory over Syracuse on Tuesday at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
They were simply trying to increase KU’s point differential through two games.
Point differential is one of the tiebreakers used to rank the teams to determine which 2-0 teams will play in Wednesday’s title game — and which ones play in the third-place game as well as consolation games.
The title game is set for 8:30 p.m. Central and the third-place game 6 p.m. Central.
At the conclusion of KU’s game, the 2-0 Jayhawks had a plus-21 point differential (10-point win over Notre Dame; 11-point win over Syracuse) to 2-0 Iowa State’s 19 point differential. Tennessee after two games Tuesday afternoon had a plus-23 differential to lead the pack of 18 schools.
“I didn’t know anything about any point differential, but I did know that we should try to score if we have the ball late,” Self explained to media in the interview room after the game.
“We turned down a dunk. Melvin (Council Jr., 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists) had Flory (Bidunga, 13 points, 14 boards) wide open for a dunk and didn’t throw it to him the possession before, and then we actually attacked and got the dunk (by Rosario) and then we got off (two) 3s in five seconds to end the game. So the guys were well aware of it.”
Then, he discussed the big picture.
“Yes, I’m excited about it,” Self said of the team vying to finish 3-0 in the early season tourney. “The point differential doesn’t have anything to do with who’s the better team, but it does have something to do with how the format is set up, so hopefully we’ll get to play for some money tomorrow. That would be great.”
All teams are guaranteed $1 million toward NIL just for playing in the tourney. But the winning team has the chance to make another $1 million.
Word of KU’s Wednesday opponent is not expected until late Tuesday night. Self will not hold a team meeting at that time.
“Tell the guys to eat and go to bed,” Self said of how he plans on handling the rest of Tuesday evening.
“To be honest, the way I look at this — tomorrow (Wednesday) we’re going to try to win, but it’s a bonus game. We’re not going to have a great book on whoever. They’re not going to have a great book on us. I guarantee whoever we play has scouted us and I guarantee whoever we play, we have scouted them. But it’s not going to be — if you don’t know who you’re going to play until 10 at night — you’re not going to bring the guys downstairs at 10 at night and say, ‘All right guys, let’s go over scout.’ You’re going to let them sleep.
“I’m going to approach it like a game that we’re thrilled to be a part of, but it’s a bonus game and go have fun and let it go, let it fly.”
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Gary Bedore
The Kansas City Star
Gary Bedore covers KU basketball for The Kansas City Star. He has written about the Jayhawks since 1978 — during the Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Bill Self eras. He has won the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year award and KPA writing awards.
