On No. 4 Baylor’s final possession Saturday, Kansas point guard Frank Mason somehow found the oxygen to chase Manu Lecomte on the perimeter and, along with Lagerald Vick, disrupt the guard’s game-tying attempt.
Afterward, Mason ran toward KU assistant Jerrance Howard and hugged him after a significant 67-65 road victory over Baylor on Saturday in a top-five matchup.
Mason could have collapsed.
The senior earned the break after recording 23 points (8-for-8 from the free-throw line), eight assists and two steals. The persuasive performance might elevate Mason to the top spot in the Wooden Award race. And now the only issue in Bill Self’s pursuit of a 13th consecutive Big 12 regular-season title – a mark that would tie the conference-title streak established by UCLA in the 1960s and 1970s – is finding another spot for this year’s trophy.
Beyond that, however, Mason also clarified his presumptive position for Kansas in the final three weeks of the regular season and the postseason to come: The third-ranked Jayhawks (24-3, 12-2 Big 12) can’t win the national title unless he carries them to the stage in Glendale, Arizona.
And, he’s talented enough to do just that.
Consider the circumstances on Saturday.
Devonte Graham (1-for-12) figuratively missed the bus to Waco, Texas. Landen Lucas — who secured an offensive rebound, drew a foul and hit the go-ahead free throws with 12 seconds to play — wore a bandage on his right hand all game and missed a chunk of the first half due to foul trouble. Josh Jackson (16 points) drew his fourth foul near the seven-minute mark, the key reason Vick played 30 minutes. Svi Mykhailiuk, a 42-percent 3-point shooter, finished 1-for-5 from the 3-point line.
And Kansas is still playing without capable big man and top recruit Udoka Azubuike, out for the year with a wrist injury.
But the Jayhawks have Mason.
And the one-man One Shining Moment continues to lead Kansas through difficult moments. The Jayhawks are 7-2 in games decided by five points or fewer, the kind of games that have the turbulent gulfs Self’s team must cross to win a national championship.
Mason is averaging 20.3 points and 5.0 assists. No player in Big 12 history has ever averaged 20 points and five assists, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Baylor (22-5, 9-5), whose hopes for a top seed took a big hit after Saturday’s loss, could not decipher Kansas for the second time this season as Mason helped his squad overcome a 12-point deficit in the first half.
But is he carrying too much weight for this Kansas squad?
Without Mason on the floor, Kansas commits turnovers on more than one-quarter of its possessions, averages an anemic 0.96 points per possession and makes just 44.2 percent of its free throws, per hooplens.com.
Translation: Kansas is a bubble team without Mason.
That’s the Frank Mason Effect.
He played 39 minutes on Saturday.
The NCAA tournament, however, often presents perilous predicaments for programs that rely on one player.
An example is the Jayhawks from three years ago. After Joel Embiid suffered a season-ending back injury, eventual No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins tried to steer Kansas to the national championship. But the Jayhawks lost to Stanford in the second round.
Mason does have some help. Lucas is the best solo frontcourt in America. Jackson is a savant who might bump his head on a rim and slide into the No. 1 spot in this summer’s NBA draft before he leaves Kansas. And Graham is a gifted guard who is fighting through a rough February.
The parallels deserve consideration, though. Wiggins seemed capable of anything, but couldn’t do everything. He needed help.
Mason needs help. Consistent help.
And that’s where Kansas and Mason stand after Saturday’s victory. From the glass-half-empty angle, Kansas will run out of luck if Mason hits a funk in March.
Then again, on the final possession of a road game against a top-five opponent on Saturday, Mason successfully defended Baylor’s star guard, probably sealed the Big 12 title for his team, possibly became the front-runner for the Wooden Award and certainly made Kansas look like a daunting contender in the hunt for the national title.
And that was just one play. We’ll wait and see what he could do over three weeks in March and April.
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