Jamarius Burton felt ‘disrespected’ last year against Memphis, so he got even Thursday
The bucket was so good, Erik Stevenson said he needed to flex his muscles, too.
With just over 12 minutes left in the Shockers’ game against Memphis, Jamarius Burton showed two former WSU recruiting targets what they missed in Wichita.
Burton whipped around former Wichita State pledge Alex Lomax, and jumped, pumped and got an and-one bucket over 6-foot-7 D.J. Jeffries. The shot gave WSU a 16-point lead, and after a Stevenson three-pointer two seconds later, the Shockers had their largest lead of the game.
Burton finished with a team-high 16 points, two away from tying a career-high. He was chosen player of the game, and his acrobatic play embodied WSU’s 76-67 win over No. 21 Memphis at Koch Arena on Thursday night.
“My whole thing down the stretch was to do anything to win, whether that’s on the defensive or offensive end,” Burton said. “I just felt like we kept our composure, stayed locked in and got the win.”
Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said Burton was one of the biggest benefactors of WSU’s deep NIT Tournament run to the semifinals last year.
Burton finished the 2018-19 regular season with at least 10 points in three of four games. In the final 13 games, he averaged more than 4.5 assists, and though only a freshman, he served as one of the leaders.
“We all figured out what it takes to win against high-level competition,” Burton said. “We’ve just taken that from last year and poured it into this year. If we feel like some of the new players are lacking things in certain areas, we’ll give them some input based on our experience.”
Burton said he remembered how much space the Tigers’ defense gave him last season. Hardaway, a former NBA star, said it’s clear Burton is under more control and has been working on his game.
“When the shot clock goes down, they give him the ball,” Hardaway said.
Only one of Burton’s baskets was assisted.
He was 6-of-11 shooting with three assists, three rebounds and a pair of steals. His game started strong with all three assists within the first three minutes, but toward the end of the first half, he hit a lull.
In the final 8:10 of the first half, Burton had two turnovers and a foul. He didn’t play for four of those final eight minutes.
“He made some unbelievable plays,” WSU coach Gregg Marshall said. “He’s not playing above the rim, but he’s pretty tough going downhill. He was a little out of sorts in the first half. I thought he made some bad choices, but he got much better in the second half.”
Coming out of halftime, Burton scored the Shockers’ first bucket. He missed two shots the rest of the way. As Memphis started to mount a comeback in the second half, Burton was responsible for six of the Shockers’ nine points.
After Thursday, only Stevenson has more combined points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. But the Shockers said it’s not about stats.
“Whoever gets the shot burns it,” Stevenson said. “I don’t care if we all have five (points) as long as we win and win big games and go deep in the tournament.”
That quote has become Burton’s game to a large extent. This season, Burton has hit double-digit points in 10 of the Shockers’ 15 games. He also has games of two and zero points. Burton set career highs with 11 assists in the win at Oklahoma State, three steals in the same game and eight rebounds already twice this season.
But Burton’s and-one bucket summed up his career so far.
The first defender he passed, Lomax, received his release from his National Letter of Intent on March 20, 2018. Burton committed about a month later.
Since getting to WSU, he was considered a grinder in the paint but needed to work on his outside shooting. Hardaway said Burton did exactly what he expected Thursday night. Burton just pulled it off.
“I just put in the work this offseason, and I worked on all facets of my game,” Burton said. “So when the defense disrespects me, I can make ‘em pay for it. I feel like I did that today.”