Wayne Selden looking to avoid another NCAA Tournament flameout

The final images in Wayne Selden’s first two years at Kansas ran contradictory to the impressions he made during the majority of those seasons.

The NCAA Tournament has had a way of clouding the good memories Selden – and the Jayhawks – enjoyed during the last two regular seasons. KU hasn’t advanced beyond the first weekend and Selden has played some of the least productive games of his career.

Selden, a 6-foot-5 junior guard, has usually played his best games against KU’s best opponents. It hasn’t translated to the NCAA Tournament, where he has averaged 2.5 points in four games and was held scoreless in a loss to Wichita State in the Round of 32 last year.

“It probably is a small sample size because in his particular career we’re only talking about four games,” KU coach Bill Self said. “So I hope it’s a small sample size, (but) the stats don’t lie. He hasn’t scored the ball or probably played as well as what he obviously is potentially able to play.”

Selden scored 33 points against Kentucky this year, 25 against Vanderbilt and 21 in the Big 12 Tournament championship game against West Virginia, continuing a pre-NCAA Tournament pattern of scoring well against high-level competition.

As a freshman, 11 of Selden’s 14 double-figure scoring games were against teams with at least 20 wins and another was against West Virginia, which had a winning record. Last year, Selden averaged 15.3 points in eight games against NCAA Tournament teams Iowa State, Baylor and Oklahoma State.

“Coach always says big-time players have to be ready for big-time situations and make big-time plays,” Selden said. “I want to be that type of player. I want to help my team win and I feel like when I play that well, it opens things up for guys.”

In KU’s first 12 games this season against teams that went on to reach the NCAA Tournament, Selden averaged 17.8 points, more than four points above his 13.3 average. That included 24 against Baylor on Jan. 2, 21 against Oklahoma two days later and 22 against Oregon State in December.

In his last three games against tournament teams, Selden has averaged 16 points, giving him 15 games against top-flight opponents in which he has averaged 18.1 points and made 90 of 171 shots (52.6 percent). He didn’t shoot 50 percent in any of KU’s four losses.

“It’s aggressiveness, but you’ve got to let the game come to you,” Selden said. “Our team is so good, I don’t have to force anything. If I’m not making shots, I don’t have to force it.”

Selden scored 11 points against Baylor, with a thunderous dunk, in the Big 12 semifinals and 21 to help the Jayhawks earn a championship in Kansas City the following day.

The story was similar last year, as Selden scored 20 and 25 points in KU’s Big 12 Tournament games before a virtual no-show against WSU. He scored six in a win over New Mexico State but was barely needed during that first-round blowout.

“We don’t look toward the past,” Selden said. “It’s the tournament now, we want to build off of what we’ve been doing.”

Self, too, expects Selden to produce a more typical performance and crystallize his better moments rather than send them into irrelevancy.

“I like where his game is right now,” Self said. “I thought he was very efficient and good in Kansas City, and I think he’s on an uptick right now.”          

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Wayne Selden looking to avoid another NCAA Tournament flameout ."