Wayne Selden admits he let Kansas down in scoreless effort
When Wayne Selden looked at the stat sheet from Sunday’s game, a 78-65 loss to Wichita State in the third round of the NCAA Tournament, he saw lots of zeroes next to his name.
The sophomore Kansas guard missed all five shots he took, did not grab a defensive rebound, did not send out an assist and did not score.
It was, by his estimation, one of his worst games in a KU uniform.
“I struggled,” Selden said. “I struggled early and I let my team down. From the beginning, I wasn’t there on the defensive end. I didn’t do nothing to help the team and I wasn’t scoring. I just feel bad.”
It was a nightmare of game for a player that has been one of the Jayhawks’ top contributors this season. He averaged close to 10 points and three assists, scoring as many as 25 points and dishing out as many as nine assists in single games.
Yet, he had few positives against Wichita State.
“Wayne didn’t have his best game, but he also carried us last week, too,” KU coach Bill Self said. “So that’s been the tell of our team is that you just never know which guys (play well) and we just didn’t have enough guys today.”
He blamed himself.
“I didn’t rebound the way I should,” Selden said. “Usually, my defense gets me going. When I am playing a good player that is how I get engaged. Today, I didn’t get fully engaged or really focused before the game. I tried to focus on the task at hand, but I didn’t come out and execute the way I should have.”
Selden’s shortcomings made things difficult on his backcourt teammates, Frank Mason and Devonte’ Graham, who combined for 36 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
They needed a boost from Selden during his 23 minutes of action.
“We really wanted to get the ball inside and be aggressive,” Selden said. “We weren’t able to do so. We didn’t take possessions seriously. We gave them a lot of easy layups.”
Reach Kellis Robinett at krobinett@wichitaeagle.com. Follow him on Twitter: @kellisrobinett.
This story was originally published March 22, 2015 at 8:59 PM with the headline "Wayne Selden admits he let Kansas down in scoreless effort."