Elite territory: Jayhawks hold on vs. Clemson
OMAHA, Neb. — For the third year in a row, Kansas made it through the Sweet 16 of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament — although not before Clemson tried its hardest to add another wild chapter to an already unbelievable couple of weeks.
The top-seeded Jayhawks brought at least a temporary halt to the insanity of this March, withstanding a ferocious rally by fifth-seeded Clemson for a too-close-for-comfort 80-76 victory in a Midwest Regional semifinal Friday night.
Malik Newman led the Jayhawks (30-7) with 17 points in a one-time runaway that got much closer and, quite frankly, won’t mean much to Kansas fans if their team can’t finish the job Sunday and advance to the last weekend of the season.
As a top seed the past two years, Kansas made it through the regional semifinals only to flop a game shy of the Final Four both times. In fact, this marks the sixth time coach Bill Self’s team has been seeded first since Kansas won it all in 2008; the Jayhawks haven’t made the Final Four one of those times.
“I think about it all the time. I just told the guys in the locker room … this year, we’ve got to get over the hump,” said senior Devonte’ Graham, who had 16 points.
Still, it could have ended Friday — in horrifying fashion — after Clemson (25-10) stormed back from a 20-point deficit that stunned a crowd filled mostly with Jayhawks fans, who didn’t have a long drive to Omaha.
“We just kind of played not to lose down the stretch,” Self said.
Clemson had scored five straight points to cut the Jayhawks’ lead to 35-27 late in the first half when Elijah Thomas, after a review, was called for a
flagrant foul. Silvio De Sousa knocked down the free throws, Lagerald Vick buried a 3 and Kansas cruised into halftime ahead 40-27. Vick, Newman and Graham then opened the second half with 3s to extend the lead to 20.
But Clemson climbed to within six with 2:27 left. Graham’s offensive rebound after a Svi Mykhailiuk miss at the 1:57 mark allowed the Jayhawks to run
almost a minute off the clock.
Kansas didn’t score after Graham’s rebound, and the Tigers got the next rebound for a chance to cut it to a one-possession game. But Shelton Mitchell and Gabe DeVoe each missed from beyond the arc. From there, Kansas overcame a dogged Clemson press just long enough to ensure that the Tigers couldn’t pull any closer until the tail end.
One of the most encouraging signs for Kansas was that it jumped ahead by 13 at halftime despite a 1-for-7 start by Graham, the Big 12 player of the year. Big man Udoka Azubuike looked strong in his first start of the tournament with 14 points and 11 rebounds in a tournament-high 25 minutes.
“This is the team everyone would have thought … would not be in this game,” Self said. “We’ve got a legitimate shot to go to San Antonio. I think we’ll play with no ‘what ifs.’ I think we’ll be loose.”
DeVoe had a career-high 31 for Clemson, which couldn’t replicate the magic it showed while beating Auburn by 31 to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in 21 years.
“We didn’t have our best game,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “Sometimes that’s not easy to keep fighting like that.”
It’s been a wild 12 months for Brownell. He entered the season on the hot seat after six straight seasons without even making the NCAA tournament, but the Tigers reached the regional semifinals for the first time since 1997 even after losing Donte Grantham, arguably their best player.
The next big question is whether 2017-18 will prove a one-shot wonder or the start of something big. Clemson has spent money on facilities to become a basketball school — but will it ever get out of the shadow cast by coach Dabo Swinney’s football team?