On a football loaded Saturday, basketball was on the slate, too. Granted, it was meaningless basketball in terms of standings, but basketball nonetheless. The Thunder traveled across the pond to take on Fenerbahce as apart of the NBA Global Games in Istanbul. And despite a sluggish, jet-lagged start, Oklahoma City coasted to a 95-82 win.
Kevin Durant finished with 24 points and one filthy ass dunk sorta-kinda on the Nets’ 2011 second-round pick Bojan Bogdanovic that everyone knew was going to end disrespectful the moment KD did that little skip sprint. And are my eyes deceiving me or does he look significantly bigger?
Meanwhile, Stateside, the countdown to Andrew Wiggins’ first official game continues with his first unofficial game as a member of the Kansas Jayhawks in one of those “Midnight Madness” events every university has. Wiggins and Perry Jones combined for 26 points (12 and 14, respectively) on 12-15 from the field to lead the Blue team to a 66-40 win in UK’s annual Late Night in the Phog scrimmage.
To the surprise of no one, the game featured very little defense, something coach Bill Self was none too pleased by. For what it’s worth though, the Wiggins dunk at the 3:10 didn’t look like anything special given the level of effort. Just wait until it’s a game that matters though and there’s a power forward trying to be a hero only to end up on the ugly side of a Top 10 SportsCenter highlight.
Kansas kicks off its exhibition season in 23 days with a home game vs. Pitt State.