Elijah Johnson erupted for 39 points in Kansas’ 108-96 overtime win over Iowa State Monday, and he apologized after the game for a poor show of sportsmanship.
With his Jayhawks up by 10 and less than 10 seconds left, Johnson was passed the ball after Iowa State missed a three pointer. Instead of dribbling out the remaining seconds, Johnson decided to go the length of the court and threw down a dunk with 2.5 seconds left. The players on the Jayhawks bench erupted in celebration, and Johnson chest-bumped with a teammate after the monster throwdown.
Kansas coach Bill Self was unhappy with the unnecessary dunk from Johnson. He could be seen apologizing to Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg in the postgame handshakes, saying something along the lines of “I’m sorry about that, he shouldn’t have dunked the ball like that.”
Self also apparently spoke with Johnson about it. Johnson revealed that to ESPN’s Holly Rowe in his postgame interview.
“I gotta show better sportsmanship,” Johnson admitted to Rowe. “I shouldn’t have dunked that ball at the end of the game. I wasn’t really thinking clearly. I saw an open basket and all day I’ve been driving, so I figured why not drive since it was open, but I definitely should have dribbled it out.”
Johnson’s 39-point game obliterated his previous career high of 26. He nailed two huge threes to keep Kansas in the game in the final minute, and he benefited from a controversial no-call that led to the game going to overtime.
The win also gave Self his 500th career victory.
