Christian Braun says he ‘absolutely’ made friends during Kansas basketball’s win at Oklahoma

NORMAN, Okla. — Christian Braun is moments removed from delivering another Kansas basketball win, standing not far from his team’s locker room at Oklahoma, and it looks as if he’s holding back a smile.

Braun can be fiery, emotional, on the court during games. He likes to talk. And there were at least a couple moments in the second half, one early and another late, where he appeared to have a bit of a conversation — we’ll call it — with someone or some fans in the corner of the court.

When talking with reporters, though, Braun has always been collected this season. It’s not quite as much of a stark contrast as his super-senior guard teammate, Remy Martin, when comparing the on- and off-the-court personalities they exhibit, but it’s there. And so, when Braun is reflecting on the moment with less than 12 seconds left when he hit a 3-pointer to put the Jayhawks up 65-62 on the Sooners, and that conversation — as we said we’ll call it — with someone or some people in the corner, the junior guard’s saying he made some friends.

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“Absolutely, yeah,” Braun said. “We had a little discussion, a little bit down the stretch. But yeah, they’re great friends down here in Oklahoma.”

Later he’d add, “They were telling me, ‘Good job. Congrats.’ They told me, ‘It was a good shot down the stretch.’ I told them, ‘Thank you.’”

But regardless of what was actually said in those moments, and maybe others, Braun helped lead Kansas to a 67-64 win against a Big 12 Conference foe with some clutch plays late. On top of that 3-pointer, after Oklahoma (12-6, 2-4 in Big 12) added a couple free throws he hit a pair of them himself to extend his team’s lead again. In another close game when the Jayhawks needed someone to step up, Braun didn’t disappoint.

“(Ochai Agbaji) did a really good job getting downhill, everybody else stepped up and hit a big shot, so it was my turn,” said Braun, reflecting on the play he hit a 3-pointer. “Like I said, (Agbaji) made a great play just like he did with Dajuan (Harris Jr.), got downhill, made a great pass, and I just had to hit the shot.”

Braun’s comparison of the play to the one late during the Iowa State game, when redshirt sophomore guard Dajuan Harris Jr. hit a game-winning layup, makes sense. In both, senior guard Ochai Agbaji drew the attention of multiple defenders and decided to pass the ball off to a teammate in a better position to score. In both, Braun like Harris, that teammate made the most of it and helped secure a Kansas (15-2, 4-1 in Big 12) victory.

Braun said Agbaji is the best player in the Big 12 right now, and probably the best in the nation. Braun understands opponents are going to have their attention on Agbaji. Braun added the Jayhawks expect Agbaji to make the right play, and that’s what happened.

“That shot was crazy,” redshirt sophomore forward Jalen Wilson said about Braun’s 3-pointer. “That shot was crazy. Man, to have the confidence to shoot that and hit that, and especially in that kind of type game when it’s loud and stuff like that, I mean, that was the biggest shot of the game.”

Kansas head coach Bill Self, whose team is seventh in the latest coaches poll, added about the shot: “Well, it won the game I mean, so I think it’s pretty big. I mean, a tie game and he shoots it five seconds too early, it better — it’s got to go in. And it was against a 1-3-1 (zone) and he just jumped up and made it. So, yeah, it was good to see (Braun) shoot the ball well and make a couple 3s. He hadn’t shot very many of them, but he shot two (Tuesday) and then, of course, the free throws were big as well. So, yeah, he was a big time player.”

Braun actually finished with a 3-for-5 mark from behind the arc, on a night he also went 5-for-8 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line, and 15 points. He may have only had a +/- of +2, but like Agbaji — whose 10 points all came in the second half — he delivered when it mattered most. Those three made 3s are a season-high for Braun and they helped the Jayhawks finish 8-for-17 from behind the arc while the Sooners were 4-for-17, which aided in lessening the effect of the free-throw disparity between the two sides.

As of games completed Tuesday, Kansas holds a slight lead in the Big 12 standings. That’s namely over No. 6 Baylor (16-2, 4-2 in Big 12) and No. 19 Texas Tech (14-4, 4-2 in Big 12), but TCU (12-2, 2-1 in Big 12) is lurking and others are as well. There could be more nail-biters ahead for the Jayhawks, maybe when the Sooners play them in Lawrence on Feb. 12, and there’s something Braun loves about games like this.

“We talk about becoming a team a lot,” Braun said. “Coach always tells us, ‘You’re not a team until you go through some adversity, you go through some stuff.’ And these games, like, that is the adversity he talks about. And it’s not one that helps you, but you’ve got to have those going forward. Iowa State was a great one. But you streak some of those good wins together, making big plays down the stretch, (Agbaji) was great by the way down the stretch, but you string those games together and that’s kind of when you become a team and you are battle tested a little bit. So, that was good for us.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Christian Braun helped lead Kansas basketball to win over Oklahoma