Is Kansas guard Martin best player in tourney?
CHICAGO — The conversation around Remy Martin always seems to revolve around his offense, and for good reason.
Check the Kansas basketball supersenior guard out in the first half Friday against Providence, right after he checks in for the first time with 14:45 left before the break, driving to the basket for a layup he finishes through contact to put the Jayhawks up 6-4. Check him out less than a minute later, nailing an open 3-pointer off a great in-bounds play to put Kansas up 9-4. They were five of the 13 points he’d score in a first half that’d only see the Jayhawks score 26, and lead by nine at the end of.
But check Martin out in the second half, too. When the Friars took their first lead of this Sweet 16 contest, a 48-47 advantage with a little less than six minutes left, watch what he does defensively after he misses an open 3-pointer on the following possession. See Martin draw an offensive foul by Providence graduate guard Al Durham, and get Kansas the ball back so redshirt sophomore forward Jalen Wilson could go get the lead back.
Because while Martin scored a teamhigh 23 points in the 66-61 Kansas victory, the last seven coming from the free-throw line, that play he made defensively and the effort he gave on that end Friday mattered just as much as what he did on the offensive end. Considering the ways he struggled defensively earlier in the season, it accentuates that moment all the more. And as the Jayhawks continue to advance, as they continue to find new ways to win with Martin excelling, his case to be the tournament’s most outstanding player is growing.
“All the practices, everything that we’ve done leading up to this point, we revert back to that,” said Martin, asked what he reached for in order to deliver key moments for his team. “We work really hard in practice. We do what needs to be done. We listen to coach. And once we’re in those type of environments,
we just revert back to that and stay calm and let each other know that they’re going to go through their runs. But, as long as we stick together like we’ve been doing the whole season, we’re going to get through this.”
Martin has now led Kansas in scoring each of its three games so far in the NCAA tournament, and is averaging 19.3 points per game. He’s on a run of four games in a row of more than 20 minutes played, dating to the Big 12 Conference tournament final against Texas Tech, for the first time since the December-tojanuary turn of the schedule around when he initially injured his knee. In addition to how much better he’s playing
defensively, in the NCAA tournament he’s shooting 57.1% from the field and 40% from behind the arc.
Jayhawks senior guard Ochai Agbaji has struggled at times offensively in the NCAA tournament. He did again against the Friars, going 2-for-8 from the field, 0-for-4 from behind the arc and 1-for-2 from the free-throw line, to finish with five points and no assists. Martin was there to provide the spark again in the first half, just like the Creighton win, and hit enough free throws late — although he didn’t seem pleased about his misses as he wrapped up at 8-for-13 there Friday.
Martin fouling Durham on a 3-point shot, Kansas up 63-57 at the time with about 10 seconds left in the game, wasn’t ideal for the Jayhawks. Kansas coach Bill Self even poked fun at Martin for it postgame during their press conference. But it didn’t sink the Jayhawks’ chances at a win, by any means.
“I actually thought that Remy’s defense has really improved as much as anybody’s over the last three or four weeks,” said Self, asked about Martin’s defense in the last three or four minutes. “And he’s trying to do what we want him to do and pressuring the ball. And the first half, their offense was really starting high on the court. Second half, not as a high. But the first half is really high on the court in large part because of ball pressure. So, I think it was good.”
Martin came to Kansas, in part, because of a desire to win games on stages like this. Earlier in the season, he seemed as if he was just along for the ride, instead of a major key in Jayhawks victories. In recent weeks that dynamic has changed dramatically, as he plays like the talent many expected him to when he arrived in Lawrence.
Martin’s father said back in January, a couple days before the start of Big 12 play, that Martin wanted to win a Big 12 title and national championship by any means necessary. The first goal was accomplished, both in the regular season and conference tournament. The second goal is three more wins away from being completed.
Maybe Kansas doesn’t need Martin to take over games the way he has early in this tournament. Maybe it will. Either way, the Jayhawks probably don’t have an opportunity to reach the Final Four on Sunday without him.
“This is the second game in a row where he’s came in in the first half and, I mean, just completely taken over, just playing with so much confidence,” Wilson said. “We love it. We love him playing like that, and we need him playing like that. I mean, he’s been able to save us out of situations when we need a shot late in the clock. He’s able just to create his own shot, and that’s something that not a log of guys can do, especially at his speed. So, we’re just loving his confidence.”