What KU coach Bill Self told Ochai Agbaji that precipitated his big night at Final Four
Ochai Agbaji skipped toward the Kansas locker room last week in Chicago, moments after the worst scoring output of his senior season. Along the way, he bumped into head coach Bill Self, who reached out a hand to halt him and begin a brief conversation.
“Don’t change a thing,” Self said, as Agbaji would later recall. “The shot will come. You’re due.”
Don’t change a thing.
More on that in a bit.
First, the backdrop: The most turbulent stretch of Agbaji’s college career encompassed the most important month of his career. An NBA prospect has been mired in a shooting slump for the better part of March, an All-American often relegated to second fiddle on his own team as the cameras increase in volume.
KU advanced in the men’s NCAA Tournament anyway, without its best player having his typical shooting nights, because it rode the backs of its defense and Remy Martin instead.
But in the Final Four, of all places, KU’s best player is finally playing like its best player again.
Agbaji hit his first six shots — all three-pointers — en route to 21 points in an 81-65 win against Villanova that puts Kansas in the national championship game Monday for the first time since 2012.
The Jayhawks are winning because of Ochai Agbaji again. But drill deeper, and you’ll learn they’re winning because of how Ochai Agbaji responded to no longer playing like Ochai Agbaji.
For a stretch of 10 games, Agbaji made only 25.8% of his three-pointers. He was 0-4 in a win against Providence last week in Chicago, scoring just five points. That prompted the quick words conversation from his coach.
The advice came from other corners too.
Be more aggressive.
Hunt your shot.
He ignored them. He ultimately went another direction.
He just relaxed and played like himself.
Don’t change a thing.
You would have never known he was in a slump, teammate Christian Braun said, and he’s referring to Agbaji’s attitude. He didn’t mope. He led the celebration in the locker room after that miserable Providence outing, his cell phone in the air, recording video of teammates entering the room.
But not all that much changed on the court, either. Except, of course, that the basketball wouldn’t seem to fall through the net.
“The thing about it is with Och, sometimes numbers go down, but sometimes players continue to play the right way and not force it to try to get numbers,” Self said. “And that’s Och.”
For most of his college career — or, heck, before his college career even started — Agbaji has flown under the larger radar. It’s allowed him to exceed expectations.
The thing about exceeding expectations so frequently, though, is they expectations tend to catch up. The All-American is supposed to play like the best player on the court.
A slump, in other words, has tested Agbaji is a new way. He found the best solution for it.
Just go play.
On the opening possession Saturday, he thought he was open for a lob, and he wasn’t wrong, but the pass didn’t initially come. It eventually arrived later, after he’d returned beyond the three-point arc, and so he pulled the trigger. He forgot about the slump and just released the shot.
It ignited a 10-0 Kansas run to open the game, and they’d lead by at least six the rest of the way.
“In warm-ups and everything, having all the shoot-arounds — everything lead up to the game — I just felt relaxed,” Agbaji said. “Everyone on our team did — relaxed but still confident and ready to attack the game. Obviously that play was open there, but we just kept moving off the ball, and obviously my teammates were finding me tonight.”
For weeks, you wondered if KU could survive an off-night from Agbaji. As March rolled through, you wondered if they could survive an off-night from Martin.
Agbaji reminded why the latter is still part of the formula. Why its KU’s best formula.
After Agbaji had made his first five threes, Villanova provided him the sort of attention he’d become accustomed to seeing most of his senior season. As he darted out to the three-point line, two defenders followed, leaving Christian Braun open. As Braun drove to the net, a defender on David McCormack took a step toward him, allowing Braun to flip a lob to a wide-open McCormack.
All created by Agbaji’s mere presence — a sequence when he didn’t even touch the ball.
Those kinds of actions are reminders of his ability to alter a game without scoring. Reminders he apparently didn’t need. That made for a nice crutch for the past two weeks, to be sure.
On Saturday, he provided another kind of reminder — he can best alter a game in its most obvious way. By hitting shots.
By, you know, playing like himself again.
This story was originally published April 2, 2022 at 8:03 PM with the headline "What KU coach Bill Self told Ochai Agbaji that precipitated his big night at Final Four."