Zach Clemence comes up big in Kansas Jayhawks’ narrow win over Oklahoma Sooners
Kansas freshman forward Zach Clemence has taken one shot so far in a Big 12 Conference game — a deep straight-on three-pointer that, after swishing, gave the No. 8-ranked Jayhawks the lead for good in a 71-69 victory over Oklahoma on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“I mean it was a great shot, I liked it. Yeah, (it’s my) best shot. Let’s just go with it — (the best of) 2022,” the 6-foot-10, 225-pound San Antonio, Texas native said excitedly, asked if the basket that gave KU a 58-57 lead with 7:01 left was the biggest of his hoops career on any level.
“That’s my favorite shot, taking that pick-and-pop, so I’m pretty confident shooting it,” added Clemence.
It came as a surprise to many when KU coach Bill Self inserted Clemence into the game with 9:14 left and Kansas (20-4, 9-2) trailing Oklahoma (14-11, 4-8) by five points.
Clemence, who had been out more than a month with a cracked toe in his right foot, had not played since the Texas Tech game on Jan. 8. He had practiced just twice since then. That’s Thursday and Friday leading up to the OU game Saturday.
“He was the only big that could hedge a ball screen and get back to Groves,” said Self, who after not playing Clemence the first half decided to see if the freshman could slow OU forward Tanner Groves, who scored 19 points on KU’s David McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot. Groves did not score on Clemence, who remained in the game from 9:14 to the 0:14 mark, when K.J. Adams subbed in.
“I thought our best chance to win was put Zach in with nine minutes left. He made a shot. More importantly, defensively he was active,” Self stated.
Self had a specific message for Clemence as he put Clemence in the game with KU needing to slow Groves, the same guy who scored 35 points for Eastern Washington in a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to KU last spring, but just eight points in KU’s three-point win over OU on Jan. 18 in Norman.
“I told him, ‘Make easy plays and don’t shoot unless you are wide open.’ I don’t know if you’ve noticed, he’ll shoot when he’s not wide open,” Self said of Clemence with a smile.
“I just said, ‘Are you athletic enough to hedge the ball screen and get back to him (Groves)?’ He said he was. He definitely was. He did a good job on that,” Self added.
Clemence indeed was ready for the defensive assignment and followed the offensive instructions well. His three was his only shot of the game, though he did also go 0 for 2 from the line on a day KU hit 13 of 23 free throws to OU’s 8 of 11.
“Coach told me to guard the pick-and-pop basically. We were struggling with that. I just happened to figure it out,” Clemence said.
Of his energy he provided — he celebrated by screaming in the direction of the fans after hitting his big three — Clemence said: “Honestly just being out four weeks will get to you, so when I got back in it was like playing basketball for the first time. It felt good.”
Clemence’s teammates noticed his defense as well as the big bucket.
“It was a big shot,” said Christian Braun, who scored 18 points (13 the second half) on 6-of-10 shooting, Braun was 4 of 8 from the line. Ochai Agbaji was held to 11 points but also guarded Umoja Gibson, who did not score after putting 30 on Texas Tech on Wednesday.
“It was more important he came in and guarded Groves’ pick-and-pop. He came in super confident so we knew when he took the shot he was going to hit it. That’s his favorite shot, pick-and-pop top of the key. We all were pretty confident in Zach hitting that shot,” Braun added.
Asked what Clemence screeched after making the big bucket, Braun joked: “He was just talking. Nobody ever listens to him.”
Self said he’s been impressed with Clemence this season despite his not playing a lot partly because of the injury.
“Great attitude .., he’s a stud. He shows flashes,” Self said. “To me, the thing that’s most exciting about him, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He and K.J. I mean we can’t run a play because sometimes it’s difficult to remember exactly what they’re doing. In fairness to them we’ve got them playing the 4, the 5 at practice. I understand that. The thing that excited me most (about Clemence Saturday) is he looked quick and athletic. And I thought his length definitely was a factor. You know when you’re long you don’t have to be quite as quick. And I think the combination of his quickness and his length made it look like he was covering some ground up,” Self added.
Adams actually played a big part in the victory as well as Clemence. On OU’s final possession with the Sooners down two after Wilson hit just 1 of 2 free throws, it was Adams who guarded Jordan Goldwire (20 points) who missed a step-back jumper just outside the paint.
Clemence, by the way, said his toe did not bother him Saturday
“It’s doing great,” he said of his foot. “I took a lot of time off to get it back, so it just feels real good.”
He doesn’t even know how he hurt the toe, just that he’s glad to be back.
“One day I walked on the court and it started hurting,” he said.
KU on Saturday trailed by eight points with 2:41 remaining in the first half and three points at halftime — not to mention five points with nine minutes to play. Jalen Wilson finished with 22 points and nine rebounds as KU extended its remarkable homecourt winning streak over OU to 21 games.
Agbaji had five points at halftime and finished with 11 points for KU, which won its 20th game for the 33rd consecutive season. That’s a 20-victory streak that started in 1989-90 and is the longest active stretch of 20-victory campaigns in NCAA Division I.
KU will meet Oklahoma State at 8 p.m. Monday at Allen.
This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Zach Clemence comes up big in Kansas Jayhawks’ narrow win over Oklahoma Sooners."
