Watch highlights of 22-year-old Bill Self’s Senior Night game against KU
It’s amazing what you can find on YouTube.
Somewhat hidden on the site — with less than 6,500 views as of this week — is a replay of the Oklahoma State men’s basketball team’s Senior Night game against Kansas from March 2, 1985.
This also was 22-year-old Bill Self’s final home game for the Cowboys.
Here are some of Self’s highlights from the game, which KU won, 88-79:
Showing off
Self’s flashiest moment was in the second half following a steal. With his left hand, he flung an accurate behind-the-back pass in transition that led to a foul ... and also color commentator Lucius Allen commenting that his old coach, UCLA’s John Wooden, would never have allowed such a risky play.
Familiar quirk
Self best showed his scoring ability early in the second half, penetrating before putting in a short jumper with a foul.
What he did afterward should look familiar to KU fans. Just before shooting his free throw, Self blew into his hands — the same tradition he does now when walking onto the court before each home game at Allen Fieldhouse.
Charge-taker?
Though Self, as a hall of fame coach, has historically not been one to value defensive charges, he wasn’t afraid as a player to step in to draw contact. In this game alone, he drew three offensive foul calls, with two of those coming when he held his ground in transition.
Shooting touch
From the replay, we can get a good glimpse of Self’s shooting form. He made two jumpers besides the early “and-one” basket, and there was also a close-up view of his shooting technique from a free throw late in the game.
Alley oops
Self showed his passing ability by connecting on a lob late in the second half to teammate Joe Atkinson.
KU’s Larry Brown, though, also showed his coaching smarts earlier following a timeout. With the 6-2 Self was on the back line of Oklahoma State’s zone defense, Brown called for an alley-oop over the top, as Danny Manning set a brush screen inside.
It’s not all that dissimilar to some zone-beater plays Self has run as coach at KU.
Manning, by the way, scored 35 points in this game on 15-for-16 shooting. Also worth noting: Four current Power Five head coaches played that day, including Self, Manning (Wake Forest), Mark Turgeon (Maryland) and Tad Boyle (Colorado).
This story was originally published July 10, 2019 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Watch highlights of 22-year-old Bill Self’s Senior Night game against KU."
