David Coit was celebrating before his teammate’s shot had even gone in.
Coit had just made a no-look pass to Zeke Mayo in the corner and clearly felt certain his fellow transfer would make it. His confidence turned out to be quite justified, as Mayo drained the second of a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers to put Kansas up 63-28 in the second half of Tuesday’s exhibition victory over Washburn.
“It’s the first team I’ve actually been on where I felt like every time they shoot, I feel like it’s going to go in,” Coit said postgame. “And I knew how the flow of the game was. He just hit one before that, and I’m like ‘All right, he’s seen one go in, it’s over. I feel good about it.'”
That assist, off a pass from AJ Storr, was far from the flashiest play Coit made on the night. The Northern Illinois transfer, a late addition in mid-August, got the start over Mayo, shot the ball repeatedly without hesitation from the start of the game and finished with a team-high 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 5-for-10 from beyond the arc — just four days after he went scoreless in 24 minutes against Arkansas.
“Watching film, I like all my shots, I liked how they felt,” he said, reflecting on the Arkansas game. “The fact that they didn’t go in, I think made me feel good — get a game like that out (of) the way.”
The senior, who began his career at Atlantic Cape Community College, certainly endeared himself to the Allen Fieldhouse crowd along the way on Tuesday night.
“I went to Northern Illinois so we never had a crowd like that, or a fan base like that, so definitely a blessing,” Coit said. “It was definitely fun out there.”
But as much attention as Coit’s shooting and his carefree, high-energy play style will undoubtedly receive in the wake of the Washburn game, that wasn’t even the aspect of his performance that he thought worked well — speaking to reporters postgame, he focused more on his movement without the ball and his ability to disrupt the opposing offense — nor was it what drew his coach’s attention. In fact, plays like the assist to Mayo might have aligned more with what KU coach Bill Self was looking for.
“I thought the thing that he did best tonight was pressure the ball, and really give himself up offensively, and the ball didn’t stick,” Self said. “He’s starting to figure it out.”
Coit emphasized that the quality of player around him allows him to feel comfortable playing in any kind of capacity. The guard, who is listed at 5-foot-11 had three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
“Credit to the team, they give me that confidence, tell me, ‘Let it go. Shoot the ball, guard hard, play hard, and we’re going to live with the result, whatever it is,'” Coit said. “I feel so confident playing with them. These are the best players I ever played with in my life. So it’s definitely a relief off my shoulders. I know I could just plug right in and play my role.”
It’s not clear exactly what that role may be when the season gets going on Monday. Mayo didn’t start, Self said, because Self couldn’t get him to shoot the ball in practice. (Mayo ended up scoring 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting.) That was what had opened the door for Coit in the first place. Fellow transfer Shakeel Moore is also on the verge of returning from injury, though there may not be as much overlap between Coit’s role and Moore’s as initially believed; Self said they’re “polar opposites” and Moore is more of a point guard, with Coit likely to play off the ball.
Coit said on Tuesday that he thinks players coming off the bench have an advantage because they can get up to speed with the flow of the game.
But, he added, “We have such a great team that it really doesn’t matter who’s going to start or who’s going to come off the bench.”
Nick Krug
