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How former App State commit Devonte Graham upstaged Oklahoma's Buddy Hield

NORMAN, Okla. – Kansas sophomore Devonte Graham scored a career-high 27 points, guarded Oklahoma star Buddy Hield as if his scholarship depended on it and played 39 tireless minutes as the Jayhawks pulled out a 76-72 road triumph.

And thus history was made Saturday at the Lloyd Noble Center: this was the finest performance ever by a basketball player who signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Appalachian State.

That’s where Graham was headed in 2013, until he blew up as a high school senior in Raleigh, N.C. Graham then transferred to New England prep school Brewster Academy for a post-graduate season – only to be held hostage by Appalachian State, which refused to release him from his letter of intent.

Then-coach Jason Capel understandably was bitterly disappointed to lose an undiscovered star, and there were accusations of tampering by North Carolina State. But sometimes you have to deal with rejection. The offshoot of not releasing him from his letter was that Graham could not have contact with recruiters from any other school during his season at Brewster, even though he had no intention of going to Appalachian State.

Finally, a month after Capel was fired in March 2014 and replaced by Jim Fox, App State released Graham from his letter. Then the recruiting chase was on, and Kansas landed a player in the spring of 2014 who probably wasn’t on its radar at all when in high school.

Fast-forward 21 months, and a guy who could have been touring the garden spots of the Sun Belt Conference was stealing the spotlight from the national Player of the Year favorite in what probably was the most anticipated game of the season.

Devonte' Graham (L) celebrates with teammate Frank Mason III at the end of Kansas' win Saturday. (AP)
Devonte' Graham (L) celebrates with teammate Frank Mason III at the end of Kansas' win Saturday. (AP)

Just how you envisioned it when you signed with App State, right, Devonte?

“No chance,” he said with a smile. “Things ended up changing and working out for the better.”

You could say that. For all the time and effort expended on prospect evaluation, there are countless stories of accidental recruits who become stars.

Kansas now has two of those.

Graham is part of the greatest second-chance backcourt in college basketball. His running mate is Frank Mason III, who originally signed with Towson. But Mason was an academic non-qualifier out of high school and also wound up going the prep-school route, reopening his recruitment and winding up in Lawrence.

Bill Self has signed 14 McDonald’s All-Americans at Kansas. But if the Jayhawks’ remarkable streak of 11 straight Big 12 titles is going to continue this year, these under-recruited guards are going to be a huge reason why.

“Our guys have been on the outside looking in as far as the premier guard tandems nationally,” Self said. “But I think this will change that.”

Mason had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists before fouling out with 3 minutes, 18 seconds to play. That shifted the burden even more onto Graham, who had been spectacular all day.

“I’ve got to put the team on my back now,” Graham said to himself.

He’d already done that, hitting big shot after big shot – and, most importantly, harassing Hield everywhere defensively. Hield is good enough that he still scored 24 points, but that’s below his average and well below the ridiculous 46 he dropped on Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse in triple overtime last month. Hield made just 5 of 15 shots and had four turnovers.

Give Graham the credit for that. And after Mason fouled out, he finished off his masterful day with eight points in the final three minutes, to catapult Kansas from three down to three up with 19 seconds left.

“What he did in the second half to control the game was a joke,” Self said. “He just put us on his shoulders.

“He doesn’t get tired. That doesn’t seem possible to me. He did a remarkable job on Buddy.”

Still, the game was in Hield’s gifted hands at the end. After being called for a dubious charge with 1:10 left, he got the benefit of a similarly borderline call with 25.3 seconds left and Kansas leading by two. Hield was trying to get free for a pass when Graham was whistled for holding him away from the ball.

Oklahoma's Buddy Hield (24) walks down the court as Kansas players, rear, cheer during their win.
Oklahoma's Buddy Hield (24) walks down the court as Kansas players, rear, cheer during their win.

“I wasn’t really holding him,” Graham said. “But it was the call, and you have to move on.”

They moved on to the foul line, where Hield had two free throws to tie the game. This, everyone assumed, was automatic.

Hield is fourth in America in free-throw accuracy at 90.2 percent, and he’s first among players with more than 100 attempts. He’s also Mr. Clutch, coming through repeatedly under pressure with that unerring shooting touch.

The first free throw swished, making it 73-72. And that’s when the law of averages kicked in.

Hield was 9-for-9 at the line at that point. True to his season percentage, he missed the 10th, to the shock and dismay of 11,707 fans in attendance.

“No telling if we would have gone to another three overtimes if he made both of those,” Graham said.

Chances of another overtime extravaganza diminished when Graham went to the foul line and made two free throws with :19.9 left, then disappeared when Jamari Traylor made one free throw at :10.6.

And so, over a span of 95 minutes, Kansas has been seven points better than Oklahoma. This game lacked much of the artistic merit of the last epic battle, but none of the tautness and competitiveness. Both teams remain very much in the running for No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament.

And Kansas’ endless Big 12 championship streak is alive and well, too. The Jayhawks are like Ted Danson, Larry King and tattoos – they never go away.

But here’s the surprising part: on a team that has four hamburger All-Americans, it took an Appalachian State evacuee to secure their biggest victory of 2015-16. If Devonte Graham had become a Mountaineer, he would have spent Saturday playing at Texas-Arlington. Instead he was three hours north, starring on the biggest stage of this college basketball season.

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