Still recovering from shin splints, KU’s Johnny Furphy has this to say about his debut
University of Kansas freshman men’s basketball player Johnny Furphy, who experienced a full Allen Fieldhouse for the first time at the Oct. 6 Late Night in the Phog season-kickoff event, now knows what it’s like to play a game in the building.
“It was electric for sure,” Furphy, Kansas’ 6-foot-9 guard from Melbourne, Australia said after the Jayhawks’ 73-55 exhibition victory over Fort Hays State on Wednesday night before the usual sellout crowd of 16,300.
“I was excited. I’ve heard so much about it, about this place,” Furphy said. “It was just exciting to finally get called up to step on the court. Once you are out there you are not really worried about anything else, just playing basketball.”
Furphy — he has been slowed by shin splints in both legs — did not play in KU’s first exhibition, an 82-75 loss to Illinois Sunday in Champaign, Illinois.
On Wednesday, he came off the bench to play 14 minutes. He scored two points on 1-of-3 shooting with three rebounds, one assist, one turnover and one steal. He misfired on his only two 3-point attempts on a night KU went a dismal 6-of-28 from 3-point range.
“I’m just happy to be back. Obviously I’m not 100% yet,” Furphy said as a postgame guest on the Jayhawk radio network. “I think as soon as the season starts I’ll be ready for sure.”
KU, the No. 1-ranked team in the preseason AP poll, will meet North Carolina Central at 7 p.m. Monday at Allen Fieldhouse in the regular-season opener for both teams.
“I felt fine. (I’m) just kind of monitoring how I’m feeling, making sure I’m not taking any steps back just only steps forward,” Furphy said, “It wasn’t anything strange tonight. It was more just being conscious of it.”
KU coach Bill Self said the goal was to play Furphy about 15 minutes. What about Monday’s opener?
“It’s really depending how I’m feeling, how my shins react from this game,” Furphy said. “We’re obviously monitoring as I go through practices, but I’m feeling good.”
KU point guard Dajuan Harris said he thought Furphy played well considering it was his fieldhouse debut.
“He is still young,” Harris said after scoring seven points with eight assists, four turnovers and two steals in 33 minutes. “He’s still got a lot to learn. He is smart. He listens a lot.
“He won’t force anything. He will try to guard, try to rebound. When he gets comfortable with us, playing together with us, he’ll be able to make some shots. The defensive end, he’s working on that too. I believe in him. The coaches believe in him. He’s only been here a couple months. He is still learning.”
KU’s other two scholarship freshmen, Elmarko Jackson and Jamari McDowell, did not score in 28 combined minutes.
“Trust in your coaches. That’s the main thing,” Harris said, asked what advice he’d share with the newcomers. “They (coaches) know the game. They’ve been around the game longer than our younger guys have been alive. If our young guys trust in our coaches, even our veterans, it will all come in good. We’ve got a lot of stuff to work on at practice for sure. That’s the important thing, be ready for practice every day.”
Of Furphy’s performance, Self said: “Johnny looked OK, considering he practiced one time in three weeks. He’ll get better. He is very smart from an IQ standpoint. He’ll pick up stuff quickly. I don’t know anything stood out. I thought he tried hard and moved well. I thought he was too excited. He got the rebound one time. Instead of bringing it up he about broke Juan’s nose with a three-foot outlet pass He did fine.”
Furphy said he’s trying to learn a lot at practice.
“Coach Self has been phenomenal. You don’t really want to take it for granted,” Furphy said. “Everything he is going to say will be right. You’ve got to trust what he’s saying. He knows what wins, what is going to work. It has been an amazing experience so far.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2023 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Still recovering from shin splints, KU’s Johnny Furphy has this to say about his debut."
