Wood’s progression could take another long step forward at No. 13 Kansas

By Taylor Bern

Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Standing in a hallway inside Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas coach Bill Self looked around for a good way to further describe a player he had already said was “different than anybody you’ve ever seen.”

“I think he can take one bounce and go from here to the restroom and back,” Self said, motioning toward an entrance about a half court away.

It’s clear that player, UNLV sophomore Christian Wood, has the Jayhawks’ full attention heading into the teams’ meeting here on Sunday. The game tips at 1:30 p.m. Las Vegas time and will air on CBS.

Wood has been putting up numbers all season — his eight double-doubles rank fifth in the country — but other than the second half at Temple it didn’t feel like he had really tapped into his lanky potential. That changed last week in the Rebels’ upset of Arizona and continued Wednesday at Wyoming, where Wood scored the team’s first 19 points in a 76-71 loss.

Over the last three games Wood is averaging 25 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks. UNLV coach Dave Rice credits a lot of it to a renewed focus from the sophomore who’s averaging three times as many points (15.7 ppg) and rebounds (9.8 rpg) as he did as a reserve last season.

“He’s playing like a guy who is a high-level talent, who’s worked hard and who’s taken the experience early in his career and become a more complete player,” Rice said. “We need Chris to keep playing at that level.”

Self likened it to the light that seems to have switched on for Kansas freshman guard Kelly Oubre, who’s averaging 17.3 points, eight rebounds and 1.7 steals since moving into the starting lineup three games ago. They’re a year apart at different positions but there are certainly similarities.

Both guys went to Henderson’s Findlay Prep and entered this season with multiple mock drafts placing them in the first round of June’s NBA Draft. They’re super athletic, long for their positions and for the past two weeks have been playing the best basketball of their young college careers.

Oubre was tabbed as a lottery pick coming into Kansas (10-2) but struggled to get off the bench for the first month. Self admitted he might not have handled the situation perfectly, but the plain truth was Oubre wasn’t ready to contribute.

“Everybody goes through the process differently and everybody adjusts differently,” Oubre said. “… Coach wants everything to be perfect. Do every little thing that professionals do, that’s what Coach asks for us to do.”

One move that helped Oubre was talking to other friends going through the process, too, like Arizona’s Stanley Johnson and former Pilots teammate Rashad Vaughn, who’s leading the Rebels (9-4) and the Mountain West in scoring at 17.9 points per game. Oubre said he and Vaughn have kept in touch, and as expected the conversations have recently turned into some friendly trash talk.

“It’s going to a fun game to play against him,” Oubre said.

Vaughn missed Friday’s practice with flu-like symptoms, the same bug going around that kept senior Jelan Kendrick out of practice on Tuesday. Kendrick was able to play at Wyoming, and all indications are Vaughn will be ready in time for Sunday’s game, though the leading scorer missing a day of court time while preparing for a top-15 team in a hostile environment is never ideal.

Surviving that challenge is going to take a much better performance than UNLV mustered in its last nationally televised game away from home. That was the offensive awfulness against Utah, a game that feels like it occurred far more than just two weeks ago.

There’s clearly a difference in these Rebels from then to now, and the question is whether it’s short term or here to stay. No player exemplifies that better than Wood, whose shooting percentage has vaulted from 47.6 percent in the first 10 games to 65.9 percent over the last three, including 3-pointers going from 16.7 percent to 75.

“The next thing you know you are surprised when you miss as opposed to surprised when you make,” Self said. “He’s obviously on a big uptick.”

And if Wood needs to use the Fieldhouse facilities, they’re only one dribble away.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.