KU Basketball: Svi Mykhailiuk Gives Jayhawks A Weapon
By Alec Tilson
KU Basketball defeats Chaminade by 51 points, gets big contributions from Mykhailiuk and bench.
The Kansas Jayhawks (2-1) enjoyed their first game in the 2015 Maui Jim Maui Invitational last night with a 123-72 win over the Chaminade Silverswords.
No. 5 Kansas shot 64.4% from the field against Chaminade, a Division II program and the host of the tournament. The Jayhawks’ bench provided much of the firepower, too, led by sophomore Svi Mykhailiuk’s 18 points on six three-pointers. He added three rebounds, three assists and a steal.
With the recent suspension of junior Brannen Greene, Mykhailiuk has every opportunity to become the team’s go-to bench option and perhaps one of the dangerous sixth-men in the NCAA. He led Kansas bench players with 19 minutes last night.
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Mykhailiuk is young – real young. Nine months younger than KU freshman Cheick Diallo. Four years, 11 months and 17 days younger than senior Jamari Traylor. Mykhailiuk is just 18 years old as of June, and he’s already spent a year-and-a-half in the Bill Self school of hoops.
Despite his age, he can do a lot of things on the court. He can shoot (6-for-11 from three-point range last night), he can run, jump, defend, handle the ball and he’s shown potential as a distributor. That’s quite a few tools for a 6′ 8″, 195-pound swing man who’s scratching the surface of physical maturity.
He keeps it simple out there too, according to The KC Star‘s Rustin Dodd:
Svi Mykhailiuk: "If it’s an open look, it’s a pretty easy shot."
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) November 24, 2015
He’s still a baby-faced sophomore who hasn’t proven anything, but the sky is the limit for the young Ukranian, and the minutes are there for the taking. At his size and his age, he’s got an uncommon combination of skills and experience.
Kansas desperately needs a playmaker – a shot-maker – to go with Frank Mason III, Perry Ellis, Wayne Selden Jr. and Devonte’ Graham. They desperately need an instant-offense, five-tool wing who can come off the bench and impact the game on both ends of the floor.
Mykhailiuk brings that to the table for KU Basketball.
Interestingly, according to C.J. Moore of BleacherReport.com, Self and KU turned to the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs before deciding whether to recruit Mykhailiuk to play at Kansas:
"“The Spurs probably do as good a job as anybody (scouting), although I don’t know that there’s a lot of secrets,” Self said. “They thought he had a chance to be really good.”"
Svi and the Jayhawks play again tonight in the next round of the Maui Invitational. It’ll be a quick turnaround and much more difficult test for Kansas, who could play a third and final game in Hawaii on Wednesday night.
Next: Brannen Greene Needs To Fall In Line
Mykhailiuk and the KU Basketball team have a lot of work to do between now and the start of conference play, but last night’s six three-pointers and 19 minutes off the bench could be a sign of things to come for the talented 18-year-old sophomore.