KU Jayhawks’ Remy Martin returns from knee injury in win over Oklahoma State
Kansas senior point guard Remy Martin says his injured right knee, the one that kept him from playing Saturday against George Mason, did not bother him in Tuesday night’s Big 12 opener at Oklahoma State.
“(It felt) pretty good,” Martin, KU’s fifth-year senior guard from Burbank, California said after scoring seven points, all in the second half, while playing 25 minutes in the Jayhawks’ 74-63 victory over the Cowboys.
“(It’s) always better when you get the win,” he added after dishing three assists against four turnovers with one steal and two rebounds.
“Not really,” Martin responded when asked if he was worried about possibly missing a significant amount of time after his knee was hit in the first half of KU’s 88-61 win over Nevada on Dec. 29 at Allen Fieldhouse. “The trainers did a good job on me, making sure I could be out there today.”
Martin attempted just one shot and did not score while playing 14 minutes the first half of Tuesday’s Big 12 opener for both teams. He was 3-of-5 shooting the final half as KU outscored the Pokes, 45-34, the final 20 minutes. The two teams played to a 29-29 tie the first half.
“My guys were doing well. C.B. (Christian Braun, 15 points, six assists) and Ochai (Agbaji, 16 points) are doing really well and David (McCormack, 17 points, 15 rebounds) today was great. Everybody is trying to win the game,” Martin said.
Martin said he was pleased McCormack adjusted well to a sixth-man role after starting KU’s first 12 games.
“I loved it. He’s capable of doing that,” Martin said. “I’m happy for Dave. I want to see him keep building.”
A reporter asked Self if it now was “not in the cards” for Martin to win Big 12 player of the year honors. Remember, Martin was the league’s preseason player of the year in a vote of league coaches.
“No, it’s not in the cards. That’s not in the cards. That’s not being negative,” Self said in answering the question.
Martin entered the game averaging 10.7 points with 36 assists against 20 turnovers.
“There’s still 17 games left. Anything can happen in those 17 games. If we are fortunate enough to have a great run, the best player on the best team would have a chance statistically. He’s been too unselfish statistically to probably put him in this position where the media would think he would deserve something like that. At this point in time I’d agree with the media,” Self said.
Bryce Thompson plays 23 minutes for OSU
Former KU guard Bryce Thompson, who transferred to Oklahoma State after his freshman season in Lawrence, scored eight points on 4-of-12 shooting with one assist, one turnover and one blocked shot in 23 minutes.
In the second half, he had two points on 1-of-4 shooting in 10 minutes.
“It was fun,” KU senior guard Ochai Agbaji said of playing against an ex-Jayhawk. “I was talking (about it) the other day. We’ll have different matchups with guys we had on our team last year (including Iowa State’s Tristan Enaruna). Obviously we wanted to beat him. It was nice to see him out there playing,” Agbaji added.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 8:04 AM with the headline "KU Jayhawks’ Remy Martin returns from knee injury in win over Oklahoma State."
