Devonte Graham expresses shock over fifth foul (+video)

When Devonte Graham saw the basketball rolling on the ground, he dove for it without thinking about the consequences.

He didn’t think there were any.

For years, the sophomore Kansas guard has put his body on the floor in pursuit of hustle plays, anything to give his team an extra possession or edge. He thought he pulled one off late in a narrow loss against Villanova on Saturday. Instead, he was called for a foul, his fifth, when he collided with Josh Hart a split second after securing the ball.

Graham was stunned.

“I honestly thought they were going to call a travel,” he said afterward. “They said I tripped him, or something like that.”

The foul meant Graham was on his way to the bench with 34 seconds remaining. He replayed the moment in his head over and over, but couldn’t figure out how he picked up the foul.

It’s never happened to him before in similar situations.

“Maybe if I was diving on top of the guy,” Graham said. “But I don’t know.”

Graham’s teammates also expressed shock over the whistle.

“I thought they called a foul on Villanova,” Frank Mason said.

“It was a great hustle play, I thought,” Wayne Selden said. “The refs said they tripped him. It was tough to see it, because he wanted it so bad.”

Official Terry Wymer, through a pool reporter, explained that Graham undercutting Hart was the reason for the foul.

The Jayhawks struggled without Graham.

He was the only player on the roster making outside shots against Villanova’s zone defense. As the Wildcats doubled Perry Ellis and contested looks against Mason and Selden, Graham found enough open space to make five three-pointers and lead all scorers with 17 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds.

“I was just trying to take the open shots with confidence,” Graham said. “I was just shooting.”

He wasn’t as strong on defense. Graham picked up his first foul fouls playing aggressively, trying to swipe the ball for steals. But that didn’t change his mindset.

He earned his fourth foul with 5:18 remaining, and immediately turned to KU coach Bill Self and told him to leave him in the game. Self flashed a thumbs up.

“It was just a lot of trust between us,” Graham said. “I played through foul trouble throughout the year, a lot of times. I just had to play smart.”

He thought he did, but he fouled out anyway.

Graham would have been the preferred scoring option on several late possessions. But Kansas had to look elsewhere.

“It was hard,” Mason said. “We need Devonte out there. He is a key player for us. With him fouling out, it wasn’t good for us. We believe in our bench players, but we just didn’t execute down the stretch.”

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 11:35 PM with the headline "Devonte Graham expresses shock over fifth foul (+video)."