LAWRENCE, Kan. _ Kansas junior guard Marcus Garrett planned on hanging out with one of his former teammates, Detroit Pistons sharpshooter Svi Mykhailiuk, after putting on a Svi-like performance Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse.
"I'll finally get a little respect from him," Garrett said with a big smile after scoring a career-high 24 points on 6-of-9 3-point shooting in the Jayhawks' 87-70 victory over Oklahoma before a crowd of 16,300 that included Mykhailiuk, who took advantage of NBA All-Star break to occupy a seat behind the Jayhawks bench.
To put defensive wizard Garrett's performance on offense Saturday in perspective: Mykhailiuk, who is the fourth-leading 3-point shooter in KU history, never hit more than six 3s in a game in his four-year KU career.
Mykhailiuk coincidentally also iced six 3s in an 85-80 loss to the Sooners on Jan. 23, 2018 in Norman, Okla.
"That was probably the best offensive game Marcus had since he's been here. He was unbelievable in both halves, by far the best player in the game for us," KU coach Bill Self said of Garrett after the No. 3-ranked Jayhawks (22-3, 11-1 Big 12) won their 10th consecutive game and 799th in fieldhouse history.
Garrett on Saturday hit more 3s vs. the Sooners than he'd made in KU's previous 11 Big 12 games. The 6-5 junior combo guard from Dallas, who played with Mykhailiuk on KU's 2018 Final Four team, was 3 of 15 from 3 in Big 12 action _ 10 of 35 on the season _ entering the contest. His previous career high in 3s had been three on three different occasions.
"Coach (Self) has been saying for two weeks now when I'm open I need to take them," Garrett said of 3s. "I need to give the defense something different to look at from me more than just driving."
Garrett was wide open on Saturday. In fact, the Sooners (16-9, 6-6) elected to not guard him.
"I've never seen a team just leave somebody just to keep shooting the ball. He took the opportunity, and he delivered," KU senior center Udoka Azubuike said of Garrett, who fed the 7-footer for a resounding slam dunk right before the starters checked out for good with 1:17 left.
It was Garrett's seventh assist. He also had five rebounds and four steals in 37 minutes.
"He knows what he's got to do. If other teams are going to slack off him, he's going to drive to the right and stuff. They did it today," added Azubuike, who tied a career high with 17 rebounds and scored 15 points.
"If he keeps knocking it down consistently, that's going to open everything up for me, because they won't be able to double-team me like they did and all that stuff. Once I'm double-teamed, I do a good job passing it, and then it's an open three. So that kind of helps us out."
Self, who was happy to see KU hit 11 of 22 3s to OU's 8 of 24, says Garrett has the ability to stretch the defense. His six 3s tied for most in a game by a Jayhawk this season. Christian Braun had six vs. Kansas State and Isaiah Moss had six at Oklahoma.
"Obviously if Marcus makes six threes we'd be hard to deal with," Self said.
OU coach Lon Kruger agrees.
"Obviously anytime a guy does what he did today makes them even tougher," Kruger said. "They are good anyhow. He hasn't shot a lot of threes. He did today to his credit. He stepped up and delivered which good players do."
The thing is ... Garrett's back-to-back steals on the defensive end in the first half may have been as important as his treys Saturday.
His steal led to a Dotson breakaway layup that cut a 27-24 deficit to one point with 7:04 left until halftime. Another steal led to Garrett's own layup that gave KU a one-point lead. The Jayhawks, full of momentum, finished the half on a 17-5 run and led by nine points at the half.
"Back to back steals ... we lost a little focus there," Kruger said.
Garrett said he actually prefers defensive accomplishments over offense.
"I like defending. I like taking on the challenge, especially when it's 1-on-1 late in the clock," Garrett said.
He insisted he took no delight in making OU pay for possibly disrespecting his offensive game in daring him to shoot.
"I don't really care how the defense is playing," Garrett said. "I know what we're trying to do offensively. I just took the shots that were there."
Point guard Dotson scored 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting with eight rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes. Wing Ochai Agbaji scored 10 points with six boards and three assists. Wing Isaiah Moss, who made his third start of the season and first in six games, scored eight points. He took over in the starting lineup for Christian Braun, who came off the bench to hit one 3.
Self paid the ultimate compliment to Garrett after the game.
"The thing is, Marcus is a coach. He is far more a coach than anybody we've had in a couple years," Self said. "Without question. He understands what everybody should do all the time. When he doesn't understand, all you've got to do is look at him. Then he understands."
KU will next meet Iowa State at 8 p.m. Monday in Allen. Former KU forward Marcus Morris will have his jersey No. 22 hung in the south fieldhouse rafters at halftime. A victory would be the 800th in fieldhouse history. KU has lost 114 games in the arena in 65 seasons.
