It wasn’t pretty. Bill Self said as much multiple times after it was over. Still, when you’re playing against another blue-blood program, and coaching against another Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame coach, it’s hard to feel bad about any victory, ugly as it might be. So, even though his team shot below 30% from 3-point range, and even though only one of his players scored more than 11 points, Self managed to crack a smile following Tuesday night’s 77-69 win over Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans in Game 1 of the Champions Classic.
“That was ugly,” Self said through a grin just before he was reminded that, with the win inside Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, he is now officially the winningest coach in Kansas basketball history with 591 victories while on the sideline for the Jayhawks.
Klay Thompson isn’t the only person who got a tribute video Tuesday.
Mike Vernon highlighted some of Self’s accomplishments. His list, in part, looked like this:
- Record as KU coach: 591-143
- Record inside Allen Fieldhouse: 316-18
- Record vs. Duke/North Carolina/UConn/UCLA: 28-12
- Record vs. Top 25: 122-68
- Big 12 titles: 16
- Final Fours: 4
- National Championships: 2
“He’s the best coach in Kansas history — and one of the best in college basketball history,” said Kansas fifth-year senior Hunter Dickinson, who finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds against Michigan State. “He’ll never want the shine. But that’s the truth.”
With the win, Kansas is now 3-0 with victories over North Carolina and Michigan State — and still No. 1 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Next up for the Jayhawks is Saturday’s game with Oakland. KU’s next high-profile matchup will come two days before Thanksgiving when the Jayhawks face Cooper Flagg and Duke in Las Vegas.
The biggest mover in the Top 25 And 1 is Kentucky, which went from unranked to No. 13 thanks to Tuesday’s 77-72 victory over Duke in Game 2 of the Champions Classic. The Wildcats’ move into the rankings pushed Marquette and everybody below Marquette down one spot each, no fault of their own. If you’re a VCU fan wondering what happened, your Rams have merely been pushed down to what amounts to No. 27.