Why Bill Self wants KU basketball forward KJ Adams to win that Big 12 honor

Bill Self heaped praise on KJ Adams on Tuesday night after the 6-foot-10 senior forward suffocated Duke star Cooper Flagg on defense in the Jayhawks’ Vegas Showdown victory over the Blue Devils at T-Mobile Arena in Nevada earned eight points.

On Saturday, the Austin, Texas, native again earned praise from 22nd-year KU coach Self, this time after posting a career-high 22 points on 10 of 12 shooting and six rebounds in an 86-51 win over Furman Showdown finale at Allen Fieldhouse.

Adams threw three dunks, two off-alley-oop passes and also had two layups and five short-range throws, giving him a career-high 10 baskets in one game.

“Hey, if he’s not the Big 12 Player of the Week this week, I don’t know if anyone will ever deserve it for the week he had,” Self said after the Jayhawks improved to 7-0 and handed it to Furman (7-). 1) the first defeat of the season.

“KJ scored tonight and how many shots did he take from outside three feet? He took advantage of his athletic ability and strength,” Self added. “He didn’t have the same opportunities against Duke. He had to use his skills to score against Duke (on mid-range jumpers). I think he’s playing at a pretty high level and he’s definitely on the right track at the moment.”

Adams was aware of Self’s words of praise after the Duke game and wanted to put together two outstanding games in a row to close Thanksgiving week.

“When you have a big game like Duke,” Adams said, “there’s a tendency to let up a little bit and take this (next) game a little bit lightly.” In those pair practices (Thursday and Friday), we’re on that one Building hype and trying to get better. “We played a good game where everyone built on what we did against Duke in Vegas,” Adams added.

Adams said whether he’s aiming for 22 points or eight points on a given night, the goal is to “dominate.” He achieved his impressive statistics in 27 minutes of work on Saturday.

“That’s kind of my motto. Dajuan helps with a lot of those things,” Adams said of senior point guard Dajuan Harris, who scored eight points with eight assists on one turnover Saturday after burning Duke for 14 points and nine assists on two turnovers.

“Dajuan always tells me in practice to be aggressive with whatever this is. A game like this was an advantage for me (against a team known for shooting a lot of threes). This is what I did today to help us,” Adams explained.

Harris said he reminded Adams on Saturday to be aggressive against a Furman team that made 9 of 38 3-point attempts to KU’s 4 of 17. The 38 3-point attempts were three fewer than the record total (in a KU game) of 41 set by Iowa State against KU on February 25, 2013 in Ames, Iowa.

“I tell him that literally every day because I know how good KJ is,” Harris said. “I know he is one of the strongest players on the field and the most athletic guy. “When you get the ball down there, go shoot the ball.” He’s great, especially in a short-roll situation. KJ is selfless like me. I tried to tell him, ‘Let me do the overtaking.’ You do the scoring.’ But sometimes I count and he passes. I tell him to be aggressive all the time.”

KU had 25 assists on its 39 baskets Saturday

“I think our team is pretty unselfish for the most part,” Self said. “With a few guys, they probably won’t be the guys that make the pass to end the game, but they can still be guys that can influence the game through ball and body movement. They’re getting better at it. Overall I think we share it pretty well. When your big guys pass it and share like KJ and Hunter (Dickinson), it becomes a lot easier.”

Dickinson scored 10 points and six rebounds with one assist in 24 minutes. Rylan Griffin also had 10 points, four rebounds and two steals, while David Coit had nine points and five rebounds.

KU meets Creighton in Omaha on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.