Elmarko Jackson threatened to leave his team today.
Freshman guard Elmarko Jackson found his way back into the starting lineup ahead of the game against Oklahoma State, due to graduate guard Kevin McCullar being ruled out due to a knee injury.
He put up 10 points, for his third career game in double figures, and his highest-scoring game in Big 12 Conference play.
Jackson got the word that he’d be starting last minute and was ready to go, all thanks to the mindset that the team has set in place.
“Kev was kind of shaky, we were shaky between his play during shoot around,” Jackson said postgame. “I found out right before the game … just staying ready so you don’t have to get ready.”
With McCullar being out of the lineup, that allowed Jackson to play 26 minutes, which is the most he’s seen throughout conference play.
“We have that next man up motto,” Jackson said. “Just getting in with the coaches and working on the court, in the film room and stuff like that … just makes the transition, having these more minutes easier.”
Jackson shot 4-of-8 from the field, 2-of-2 from 3-point-range and added two rebounds, which helped him with feeling comfortable.“It’s easy to get comfortable when you
make a couple of shots early and everything, and then all of a sudden you feel like that there’s not pressure to make the next one,” head coach Bill Self said. “It was good to see him. He’s a good player and he just hasn’t played probably the way that he thought he would thus far, but tonight was a was a good step.”
The only critique from Self came on his defensive end of the ball.
“His first step is so good that he can get his shoulders past people and force help, and he did that a couple of times tonight which was great,” Self said. “The biggest thing is defensively. When he’s alert and turned up, he can guard really guard. If he forgets maybe a switch or whose guarding or something like that then it doesn’t look as good and that happened a couple of times … he’s just experience away.
It’s important to note that Jackson hasn’t been playing nearly as long as most players in the Big 12 have, and he’ll only develop with more time.
“You know he hadn’t been playing ball that long, he’s just experience away from being a really effective player, but tonight was good,” Self said. “He needs to see the ball go in the basket. He’s had a great attitude and hadn’t had many things go right for him, but tonight was good.”
The Jayhawks are back in action at home on Saturday in a battle against the No. 4 Houston Cougars. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. on ESPN.