NEW ORLEANS — The Kansas Jayhawks went 5-3 against Brady Manek’s Oklahoma Sooners in men’s basketball games in which the North Carolina super-senior forward played during his four seasons at OU.
The 6-foot-9, 230-pound Manek, who has made 95 of 237 threes (40.1%) while averaging 15.2 points per game for the Tar Heels (29-9) during his transfer season, went 15-of-41 from three-point range in his eight games for OU vs. KU.
That calculates to 36.6%, a bit below his shooting percentage during the 2021-22 season
“I think Brady has obviously been unbelievable,” KU coach Bill Self said Sunday of Manek, who scored 14 points on 3-of-6 three-point shooting in Saturday’s 81-77 victory over Duke in the Final Four semifinals. That victory propelled the Tar Heels into Monday’s 8:20 p.m., national title game versus KU at Caesars Superdome.
“He and Caleb (Love, 6-4 sophomore, 16.0 ppg) have arguably been the two best players in the tournament,” Seld said. “He was a threat always at OU. But Hubert (Davis, first-year UNC coach) has given him a free mind (so) ... any time he’s got any separation at all, he needs to let it fly.
“He’s got such a quick release. It’s a high release. And playing him at OU, you had to defend him probably a little more at the post. And now obviously with Armando (Bacot, 6-10 UNC junior averaging 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds) in the game, he’s playing primarily on the perimeter.”
Manek scored 21 points in an 81-68 victory over KU in Norman, Okla., during his sophomore season at OU. He had 19 points in his last game played against the Jayhawks, knocking down 3 of 6 threes in KU’s 69-62 victory in the first round of the 2021 Big 12 tournament. He had 16 points and 11 rebounds in a 70-63 loss to the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse, also during his sophomore year.
Manek’s lowest-scoring game against KU was two points in a 104-74 loss to the Jayhawks at Allen his freshman year. He had five points in OU’s 75-68 win over KU in his senior season at Norman. The most threes he’s hit against KU in a game is four — during his first game against the Jayhawks.
He finished that game with 14 points and seven rebounds in OU’s 85-80 home win over KU in the 2017-18 season.
“He is always open,” KU junior Christian Braun said of Manek. “So when he catches it he doesn’t have to dip to shoot. He just shoots it from right up top. He does not need any time to get his shots off.
“We can’t allow him to get going early and give him confidence. He’s shooting it really well, scoring really well and throws a lot of different things at you. He can play the 5, too, so you have to prepare for him playing the 4 and 5.”
Asked about trying to slow both Manek and Bacot, KU junior forward Jalen Wilson said, “Bacot’s one of the best rebounders in the country, so we have to box him out every single play and always get a body on him. Brady is good because he’s able to step out and go inside. We’re going to try to guard both sides of that and make them shoot contested twos and try to put a body on them most of the game.”
Bacot scored 11 points and grabbed 21 rebounds Saturday against Duke before hurting his ankle late in the game. X rays were negative, coach Davis said Sunday, reporting that Bacot is “ready to play tomorrow night.”
KU senior forward Mitch Lightfoot said Bacot is “a great rebounder who does a great job of using his body to get position on rebounds. He’s going to wedge you under and make sure he gets a piece of the pie on almost every rebound. We’ve got to make sure if we don’t have an opportunity to block a shot, then commit yourself to making sure he doesn’t get a rebound. It’s important we make sure he stays off the glass — easier said than done, because he’s such a great rebounder.”
Bacot played for KU coach Self on USA Basketball’s 2015 World University Games title team. The U.S. went 8-0 in taking the gold.
“I coached ‘Mando on the USA Team, when he was coming out of high school. He was going to be a senior,” Self recalled of the junior from Richmond, Virginia. “I got to know him a little bit. Obviously we spent 17 or 21 days together. And we saw their team at Del Frisco’s (restaurant) in Fort Worth (Texas) because we were both in that (2022 NCAA) sub-regional when we got there that first night. We we both were eating there at the same time.
“And I went up to Armando and said, ‘Congratulations. Are you having fun?’ And the first thing he said, ‘I love playing for Coach Davis.’ That’s the first thing he said to me. So I think that right there is a testament to how good he is, how special, and the relationship he (Davis) has with his guys. It’s not surprising at all when you have talented guys that when they do gel they gel in a big way, if they have the same common theme and they believe in the way they’re playing.
“To get them to play at this level, that game last night (UNC’s 81-77 win over Duke) was a big-time high-level game. That’s as about as good as you can see and his guys played with so much confidence; it’s just a testament to him,” Self added of Davis, in his first season as head coach after taking over for Hall of Famer Roy Williams this season.
