Perry Ellis’ final game shouldn’t tarnish his Kansas legacy (+video)

Some with shortsightedness will judge the legacy of Kansas senior Perry Ellis differently now, unfortunately.

They’ll get caught up in his worst game that contributed to a bad game for KU that got the Jayhawks bounced from the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night in a 64-59 loss to Villanova in the South Regional final.

The 6-foot-8 Ellis, a model of consistency all season, scored four points, had four first-half turnovers and was mostly invisible down the stretch as the Jayhawks were dropping a game that could have gotten them to the Final Four.

There’s blame to go around, but much of it will be dropped into the lap of Ellis. He’s the senior, he’s the leader, he’s the man.

But some of the blame has to go to KU coach Bill Self for not finding a way to get Ellis more involved offensively. His Villanova counterpart, Jay Wright, devised a defensive game plan — two parts man-to-man, more parts zone — that was effective in defusing Ellis.

So were the Jayhawks, who failed to get him the basketball in good spots for most of the game.

And, of course, Ellis defused himself by missing a few shots he normally makes and, Self said, not being as aggressive in demanding the ball as he has been previously.

Ellis had scored in double figures in 35 of KU’s 37 games this season and his four points were a season low. He took five shots despite playing 34 minutes. There were long stretches in which he didn’t touch the basketball. Considering he had scored 20 or more points in seven of KU’s past eight games, that didn’t make sense.

It was the worst possible way for Ellis to end his career. He was supposed to get to his first Final Four in his best season, one in which he finally won over the critics who had thought he wasn’t tough or hard enough to lead a team to the promised land.

As he answered a couple of questions after the game, Ellis eventually broke down. This stoic, gentle, nice guy from Heights, who led his high school team to four consecutive state championships, was the most heartbroken of all.

“I feel like they did a great job of trying to swarm me at times and just somebody was always there,” he said of Villanova’s defense. “I could have demanded the ball more at times, you know, but… ”

Sports can be so hard, physically and emotionally. Ellis had been playing amazingly well and everybody marveled after his 27-point Sweet 16 game against Maryland two nights before.

Saturday’s game started with Ellis getting the ball down low, but missing a short shot. It was a precursor of things to come.

After a scoreless first half, the plan was obviously to get Ellis involved immediately in the second half. He went strongly to the basket on KU’s first possession, was fouled, and made two free throws.

But that noise was quickly muffled by Villanova’s defense. After Ellis scored his only basket with 13:23 remaining, he was finished. There wasn’t going to be anything more. And the shock of KU’s best player going silent will resonate for a while.

Ellis became emotional when he was asked about what he would remember about his four seasons at Kansas, and especially when someone wanted to know what Villanova’s Wright said to him during a short exchange as players and coaches shook hands after the game.

“Just knowing it’s over and how much I’ve grown,” Ellis said. “I’ve grown so much and I’m so thankful for everybody — teammates, coaches, everybody.”

Then it became difficult for Ellis to speak.

“(Wright) told me I’m a great player and to just keep my head up,” Ellis said.

That won’t be easy.

Ellis and Self have a special bond, once they’ve spoken of often this week. Self started recruiting Ellis eight years ago, when Ellis was a freshman at Heights, and has spoken often of Ellis being able to overcome his quiet, peaceful nature to become a KU star.

“I probably wanted (a Final Four) as bad for this group as for any group I’ve coached just because I know how hard they’ve tried,” Self said. “These guys have given us everything they’ve got.”

He was speaking in general, but he was thinking of Ellis.

Like all coaches, Self is part taskmaster and part protector. If you want to diminish Ellis’s legacy because of one bad game, one bad night, you’ll have to go through Self to do so.

Asked if Ellis’s performance in Saturday’s loss tainted the player’s legacy, Self pounced.

“No, no, no,” he said. “He’s a stud. He got a couple of easy looks early and missed them both and kind of probably shied away from being quite as aggressive after that. But no, we’ve ridden Perry pretty hard over the last three years and he’s almost always delivered for us. In my mind, he’s been a stud and one of the all-time greats regardless of the outcome of this game.”

I agree. But, unfortunately, not everyone will.

That’s life. And sports.

Both are hard.

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Perry Ellis’ final game shouldn’t tarnish his Kansas legacy (+video)."