Kansas Jayhawks’ Ochai Agbaji ‘not stressing or pressing’ over missed shots in NCAAs
Consensus first-team All-American Ochai Agbaji, the player of the year in the Big 12 Conference and most outstanding player of the league’s postseason tournament, does not lose any sleep over missed shots.
“I’m not stressing or pressing or anything. My teammates … they are telling me to shoot every time I’m open. They have full confidence in me, so I’m going to keep shooting it,” Agbaji, Kansas’ 6-foot-5 senior guard from Kansas City, said Saturday after scoring 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting — 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting the second half — in the Jayhawks’ 79-72 second-round NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional victory over Creighton at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Agbaji was 0-for-4 shooting the first half against the Bluejays (he was 2-of-2 from the line) as the No. 1 seed Jayhawks led No. 9 seed CU by just a point (39-38) at halftime.
Though Agbaji missed 9 of 14 shots (35.7%) compared to his season shooting percentage of 47.0%, he came up with some huge plays that helped KU survive the Bluejays and advance to the Sweet 16 and a Friday meeting versus Providence in Chicago.
Agbaji stole the ball and raced in for an uncontested dunk to give KU a three-point lead (75-72) with 55 seconds remaining.
Some other key moments for Agbaji … he hit a pull-up jumper outside the paint to give the Jayhawks a 73-67 lead with 3:46 left. Earlier at 10:06 he drilled a three that hiked a 58-55 lead to six points. His two free throws at 11:18 upped a four point lead to 58-52. And he busted a 41-41 tie by hitting a jumper outside the paint a minute and 30 seconds into the final half.
“He didn’t shoot it well the first half, but he made some big-time shots off of two feet the second half that really — the three he made behind the dribble handoff and a couple of plays off of pindowns were huge for us,” KU coach Bill Self said.
Agbaji’s also went 5-of-14 shooting (1-of-5 from three) and scored 11 points in KU’s 83-56 first round rout of No. 16 seed Texas Southern on Thursday.
“Everyone was like, ‘Keep taking those shots. They’re all good looks,’’’ Agbaji said. “Even coach Self was saying those were good looks. So when I know they (teammates, coaches) have that confidence in me, it makes it a lot more easier to step up and make those shots and not feel a lot of pressure.”
Agbaji in three games in the Big 12 tournament scored 56 points (18.7 points per game) on combined 20-of-42 shooting (47.6%). He was 6-of-18 from three, 10-of-12 from the line and earned most outstanding player honors for the tourney champs who defeated Texas Tech, TCU and West Virginia.
For the year, he’s averaging 19.3 points a game on 47% shooting, He’s made 94 of 235 threes for 40% and is a 77.4% free thrower.
“I never base how somebody plays whether they are making shots or not,” Self said. “Layups might be a different story. Ochai has done it (shoot and score) consistently well all year long.”
Junior guard Christian Braun said he welcomes every one of Agbaji’s shot attempts.
“Every time it leaves his hand I know it’s going in. We’ve been seeing it a year now. He really doesn’t miss,” said Braun who scored 14 points versus Texas Southern in a game he hit 4 of 5 threes and 5 of 12 shots overall and scored 13 points versus Creighton on 5-of-9 shooting (1-of-2 from three).
“There’s nobody we want more than ‘Och’ to take the shot,” Braun noted.
Agbaji has said repeatedly he does not care how many points he scores, as long as the team wins.
“I’d say I like to get my team rolling by making shots and getting stops,” Agbaji said. Yet ... “We see someone else getting hot that lifts everyone else up.”
As far as overall shooting, KU hit 40.9% of its attempts versus Creighton (6-of-16 threes) and 50% versus Texas Southern (11-of-23 from three).
Senior point guard Remy Martin was 6-of-8 shooting and scored 15 points against Texas Southern and 7-of-14 shooting against Creighton for 20 points. Combined that’s 13-of-22 shooting for a sizzling 59%. He was 3-of-6 from three-point range.
Top seed KU (30-6) will next take on (27-5) Providence, the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Regional in the Sweet 16 at 6:15 p.m. Friday in Chicago’s United Center. Winner will meet the winner of the Iowa State-Miami game in the Elite Eight. Iowa State (22-12) is an 11 seed; Miami (25-10) a 10 seed.
Asked about the team’s mindset entering a week of practice prior to the Providence game, team leader Agbaji said: “Just being present in the moment, not regretting anything when we’re out there on the court. Knowing that it is on us to make these plays — we want to be successful to make those plays. So just being present in the moment, not getting too ahead of ourselves.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Kansas Jayhawks’ Ochai Agbaji ‘not stressing or pressing’ over missed shots in NCAAs."
