KU’s Johnny Furphy phenomenal against Cincinnati with parents watching from stands

Kansas freshman guard Johnny Furphy’s parents made the 14,857-mile trip from Melbourne, Australia to the United States to watch their 19-year-old son play two basketball games for the tradition-rich Kansas Jayhawks.

The first contest must have been exciting for Richard Furphy and Liza Alpers. However Johnny’s three 3s and 13 points (and seven rebounds) were wasted in a 91-85 loss to West Virginia on Saturday in Morgantown, West Virginia.

The Furphys were among just a handful of KU fans in the stands at WVU Coliseum.

The unquestioned highlight of the Furphy’s short trip to America (they’ll be returning home this week) came Monday at Allen Fieldhouse. The 6-foot-9 guard scored a career-high 23 points on 7-of-8 shooting (he was 3-of-4 from 3 and 6-of-9 from the line) and grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds in the No. 7-ranked Jayhawks’ (16-3, 4-2) 74-69 victory over Cincinnati (13-6, 2-4) before 16,300 loud fans.

At one point KU’s student section chanted Furphy’s name over and over, which had to be music to Mom and Dad’s ears.

“This was their first home game. I was happy they could experience that,” Furphy said. “I have been telling them a lot about the fieldhouse and obviously Kansas basketball. I’m I happy they got to see a win. I’m happy they got to experience a game like this, (a) packed house. It was good energy. They’ll be heading back (this week).”

Furphy played so well on ESPN Big Monday that coach Bill Self called him the “best player in the game.”

Pretty good timing for a freshman to play so well in 37 minutes with one’s parents watching his every move.

“I think they are going to remember this for a long time,’ Furphy said. “I told them so much about the energy in this building, you can’t really describe it. They’ve seen videos. I told them it doesn’t capture the energy and noise.”

Furphy in KU’s last three games has averaged 17.0 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. He’s hit 52.% of his 3s. In the first 15 games he averaged 5.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and hit 34.7% of his 3s.

“I’ll be honest,” Self said, “I didn’t expect him to average 17 and eight in his three starts.”

Furphy has started four games in a row, scoring seven points vs. Oklahoma.

“He has settled into his role. He’s gotten us off to good starts all three games,” Self said, referencing contests vs. Cincy, West Virginia and Oklahoma State. “Johnny more than anybody else got us off to good starts. Offensively he was terrific. He’s great in transition and can run. Two games in a row he’s been our best rebounder, which is a bad sign for our other guys. Without him on the boards we’d really have had it handed to us today.”

Cincy outrebounded KU 40-29.

Hunter Dickinson, who played 30 minutes because of foul problems, had 10 points and six rebounds. Kevin McCullar had 20 points in 35 minutes but missed 12 of 17 shots. He was 2-of-6 from 3 and 8-of-12 from the line.

“Hunter and Kevin are playing hurt. They are playing on bad wheels,” Self said, noting they both have been hobbled by bruised knees. “This needed to be a game we took them out. We couldn’t. Hunter took himself out with fouls.”

Self’s bench provided two points in 27 minutes to Cincy’s 32 points from the bench.

“I don’t know if that’s been heard of and a team wins,” Self said.

He couldn’t sub much because Cincinnati wouldn’t go away.

The biggest play of the game according to Cincy coach Wes Miller was Furphy’s 3 with one second left on the shot clock. It swished and gave the Jayhawks a 67-57 lead at 1:57. Still, Cincy cut the gap to six with 1:28 left and kept it at six until the closing seconds.

“The last 3 he hit was a dagger. He takes one with one second on the shot clock. It was a big-time shot,” Miller said. “He’s a terrific young player. He shoots it well.”

KU will next meet Iowa State at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in Ames.