Former Jayhawk Quentin Grimes helps hammer Wichita State in return to Kansas
Last season, Quentin Grimes heard his name announced 18 times as a starter in Allen Fieldhouse.
Saturday, he played another game in the state of Kansas. He was wearing red, but it wasn’t a Jayhawk alternate uniform. He was in Houston colors helping the Cougars beat No. 16 Wichita State 65-54 in his return to the Sunflower State.
Grimes’ path back to Kansas was turbulent. April 10, he tweeted his intent to enter the 2019 NBA Draft after one season as a Jayhawk in which he averaged 8.4 points per game.
“I am looking forward to the next steps of my basketball career,” Grimes wrote to finish his announcement.
His next step went backward. May 29, KU coach Bill Self released a statement.
“We initially anticipated him staying in the draft, but he and his family decided to return to college but not return to the University of Kansas,” Self said.
A week later, Houston announced Grimes’ arrival, and more than seven months later, he was back in Kansas. But Grimes’ name wasn’t said in the starting lineups. After starting all 36 games at KU, Grimes is coming off the bench for the Cougars.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said it’s a role Grimes has evolved into.
“He is finally understanding that he doesn’t have to please anybody or be something he’s not,” Sampson said. “I told him to be All-Conference in your role. Don’t feel like you need to prove anything to anybody.
“We make a mistake in life sometimes where we’re constantly allowing people to define who we are. You don’t have to be anything other than your best.”
Grimes finished Saturday’s victory over the Shockers with 10 points and four rebounds, and he was 4 for 4 from the free-throw line with a pair to end each half.
Grimes said before he talked with anyone at Houston, intensity was the one thing he knew he needed to improve. At KU, he averaged 27.4 minutes per game. At Houston, even while coming off the bench, he is seeing almost 30 minutes and averaging 13 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
He said offense and defense has always come easy to him, but at Houston he doesn’t feel he has to do too much and can let the game come to him. Grimes said he felt he started to figure that in the final four regular season games at KU and through the Big 12 Tournament last season.
It just might have been a little too late, he said.
“Going in and playing how I am with U of H is kind of what everybody expected me to do at KU,” Grimes said. “I feel like it’s coming around full circle for sure. I feel like I made the right decision.”
Houston’s win over WSU marked the Shockers’ second straight loss, both coming in AAC play. Even after a road loss to Temple earlier in the week, WSU entered Saturday tied for the conference lead. The loss sends the Shockers into a tie for fifth.
Grimes said he knew Saturday’s game would go a long way in determining the final conference standings, but his return to Kansas didn’t cause a change in his preparation or mindset, even with about 10 family members in the Koch Arena stands.
Houston held a 22-point lead over WSU on the road early in the second half, and through the game’s first 20 minutes, the Shockers were held to 25 points in what turned out to be a perfect return to the state where he started his college basketball career.
“I feel like we won this game two days ago with our preparation,” Grimes said. “Everybody has been locked in the past two days, and at shootaround this morning, everybody seemed to be locked in. That’s what we did today.”