Newman’s rise perfect timing for Kansas
Sophomore is averaging 22 points in postseason, shooting 60% on three-pointers
OMAHA – Malik Newman just smiles. He’s seen the same things you’ve seen these last few games, when he has played his very best basketball when Kansas has needed him most.
“We are seeing a different Malik Newman,” he says, nodding his head.
And because of it, we might be seeing a different Kansas.
All season, we have watched this team and found the flaws. This includes Bill Self, by the way; even as the Jayhawks did what Jayhawks do, winning the Big 12’s regular-season and tournament titles, piling up a résumé that led to yet another No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, their coach was among their fiercest critics. Earlier this season he called them the softest team he’d coached. He readily agreed with those who looked at Kansas’ lack of depth and size and at once marveled at how the Jayhawks were winning while worrying they were not built for a deep postseason run.
But as Kansas faces No. 5 Clemson in the Sweet 16, this is where Newman comes in. Well, check that, he entered the picture almost two years ago, when he withdrew his name from the NBA draft and decided to return to college basketball — but not back to Mississippi State, instead transferring to Kansas.
After sitting out last season per NCAA transfer rules, he entered the Kansas lineup this season. But in some ways, the 6-3 sophomore guard didn’t really come into the picture until this month, when he scored 72 points in the Big 12 tournament (and was named the most outstanding player). He shot 15
for-22 from three-point range. After averaging 12 points during the season, he is averaging 22 in five postseason games and shooting almost 60% from three.
“It’s his time,” junior guard Lagerald Vick says.
And senior guard Devonte’ Graham adds: “For this team, it’s perfect timing.”
A second-round victory Saturday against Seton Hall was at once a display of all that ails Kansas and what the Jayhawks can be.
Seton Hall center Angel Delgado —
24 points, 23 rebounds — owned the interior for most of the night. Jayhawks sophomore center Udoka Azubuike played 22 minutes on that sprained knee, and it might have been more if not for foul trouble (caused by Delgado). Azubuike moved much better than he had in a brief appearance in the first round, but when he was out of the game, the combination of Mitch Lightfoot and Silvio De Sousa was clearly overmatched by Delgado. It was a reminder of just how slim this team’s margins are and how easily the Jayhawks could go down against a bigger, more physical opponent.
But Newman’s explosive scoring showed off how good Kansas can be and why the Jayhawks pose a potential matchup nightmare for almost anyone they play. He put up 28 points and made several critical plays down the stretch. After Seton Hall cut Kansas’ lead to four points with four minutes left, he scored seven consecutive points.
“Any one of our starting five always has a chance to go out and get 20-plus,” Newman said. “We’re always capable of it.”
He’s right, especially when it comes to the four-guard lineup of Graham, Svi Mykhailiuk, Vick and Newman — which Self likes to call a “four-headed dragon.” It has been enough to lift Kansas past its obvious deficiencies, though sometimes just barely.
Those aren’t going away. Kansas remains painfully short — of depth and also size. But Newman’s postseason surge could propel Kansas to a higher potential.
It’s the kind of sustained performance many envisioned from Newman. A consensus top-10 recruit from Jackson, Miss., he chose Mississippi State with the idea of playing a season and then moving on to the NBA. But after an inconsistent season that was accompanied by a back injury and turf toe, he was projected as, at best, a secondround pick.
“It wasn’t the news I wanted to hear,” he says. “And I wasn’t 100% healthy.”
He’s the guy Kansas saw last season, when he was tasked with mimicking opponents’ best players during practices — which largely meant he was free to fire up shots without consequence. He’d chosen Kansas in part because Self promised to coach him hard — “He said he was gonna stay on me, he wasn’t gonna let me settle,” Newman says — but much of that coaching didn’t really begin until this season.
“Last year we only saw him in a way that gave us nothing but unbelievably high hopes and optimism,” Self says, “because he wasn’t part of the defensive team, really, being on the scout team. We saw how he could score.”
In all those practices last season, defense wasn’t a priority. Then suddenly it was.
“I think I screwed him up,” Self says. “I said, ‘Whoa, whoa, that’s not how we play.’ And I think I probably messed with his mind a little bit. But I do think he’s become much more of a complete player and he’s better offensively because I think he cares about the right things.”
The result, for most of the season, was inconsistency. Newman’s explosive potential flashed several times — 27 points against Iowa State, 24 against Baylor — but there were long stretches where he wasn’t a factor. He says he was overthinking and that when he’d miss a shot it would linger.
It’s hard to figure why things have suddenly come together for Newman — “I’m just not thinking; I have a free mind” — but for Kansas, it’s enough that they have.
“My confidence is out the roof right now,” he says — and just maybe, Kansas’ potential is, too.
Newman’s improvement causes a ripple effect in a lineup that already poses matchup problems for opponents. Its biggest effect probably can’t be quantified. All season, Graham has shouldered a heavy load, playing entire games (he averages almost 38 minutes), guarding the other teams’ best perimeter players and initiating the offense. He’s the Big 12’s player of the year and Kansas’ undisputed leader. But Self says Newman’s play has reduced the pressure on Graham, and how do you measure that?
“It’s everything I envisioned,” Newman says.
Finally, it’s what people thought they might see from Newman, too. Which means these Jayhawks might suddenly be better than anyone pictured.
“It definitely takes us to another level,” Graham says.