Former KSU Wildcats beat past KU Jayhawks in exhibition, but Cunliffe hits two 3s

Sam Cunliffe, a top 50-ranked player in the high school men’s basketball recruiting class of 2016, began his college career at Arizona State during the 2016-17 season.

The 6-foot-7, 200-pound sharpshooter from Seattle left Tempe, Arizona to become a Kansas Jayhawk after one semester.

After playing at KU (again just one semester), he exited Lawrence in July of 2018 for the University of Evansville. After redshirting one campaign, he played for the Purple Aces in 2019-20. Cunliffe elected to sit out the 2020-21 season during the pandemic, ultimately turning pro in 2021-22.

“Dude … I tell people I’m a KU fan. All day,” Cunliffe said prior to hitting two 3s and scoring six points in the KU alumni team’s 76-72 loss to K-State’s alumni squad in a TBT exhibition game played Wednesday before 500 or so fans at Johnson County Community College.

“Looking back I probably wish I would have stayed at KU, but it’s been good. There’s nothing like playing at KU, though,” Cunliffe added in making it clear which of his three stops happened to be his favorite.

He said he was surprised but elated when KU alumni team organizer Tyshawn Taylor and Cunliffe’s former KU teammate and good friend Lagerald Vick (who scored 20 points Wednesday) asked him if he would like to accept a roster spot on KU’s TBT squad, which goes by the name “Mass Street.”

“I was really excited. Getting a chance to play at KU, this feels like I’m playing at KU again,” Cunliffe said. “Getting a chance to play at some type of KU arrangement — with an opportunity to kind of get my second crack at it — I know I’ll add a lot to the team, particularly shooting the ball, hitting open shots, and just playing hard and wanting to win.

“It’s one of those things where looking back I didn’t have the career I wanted at Kansas — partly my fault, and partly just the situation and timing. I still watch every Kansas game. So just getting a second chance to be able to do something like that, this is something I really couldn’t say no to.

“It’ll be great. I feel like there’s going to be a lot of KU fans in Wichita. It’s going to feel like I’m in college again.”

The Jayhawks’ TBT team will open the 64-team, $1 million winner-take-all tourney against a team of Colorado State alumni at 7 p.m. Saturday at Koch Arena in Wichita.

“Scoring the ball, shooting the ball, that’s kind of always been my thing,” Cunliffe said. “I’m still 6-7 but I’m a lot bigger and stronger now. I’m a more mature version of my whole self. The bottom line is, I’m a really good player. I’ve always been a really good player. I want to win this. I think we can. I haven’t watched much of the TBT in the past. I don’t really know who’s all in it, but I think with a roster like ours, we have a pretty good shot.”

What will it take for the KU alumni team (Cunliffe plus Frank Mason III, Dedric Lawson, Chandler Lawson, Vick, Jamari Traylor, Silvio De Sousa, Ben McLemore, Billy Preston, Brandon Rush, Kevin Young and Travis Washington) to win the TBT?

“Oh, man. I mean, it’ll be the same as every other game,” Cunliffe said. “Can we defend and can we hit shots? We have some unbelievable scorers on our team. It’ll be how quickly can we mesh? How quickly can we become a cohesive unit, obviously, with two, maybe two or three practices, and then are our shots going to fall or not?”

Arriving from his current residence in Phoenix shortly after a 6:30 p.m. tipoff, Cunliffe hit 2-of-8 shots, both from 3-point range, good for his six points. Young went 5-of-6 shooting for 11 points, while Dedric Lawson was 3-of-9 shooting for seven points and Billy Preston 2-of-5 for five points.

No official stats were kept because players did not wear uniforms with names or numbers and some could not be identified by statkeepers.

Cunliffe’s contributions at the TBT in Wichita could come from beyond the arc. He hit 40.5% of his 3s in 2016-17 in 10 games at ASU. In 15 games at KU in 2017-18, he hit just 25.0% from 3-point range. Then in 2019-20 he made 30.8% of his 3s at Evansville. Overall, in college he was a 38.7% shooter, 32.3% from 3-point range.

Cunliffe’s finest moment in college came at Evansville, when he lifted the Aces to a win over No. 1-ranked Kentucky on Nov. 19, 2019 at Rupp Arena. Cunliffe scored 17 points, including two off a pair of free throws with 6.8 seconds left that pushed the Aces’ lead to three points. Kentucky did not score on its final possession and Evansville won, 67-64.

It was Evansville’s first win against an AP-ranked team on the road.

In that game, Cunliffe hit 6 of 13 shots and was 2-of-7 from 3 and 3-of-4 from the line. He contributed six rebounds with no assists against six turnovers.

“That was big for me,” Cunliffe said, “because I felt I didn’t get to kind of show much of anything that I could do at KU. Being able to go somewhere and accomplish one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history on their home court, there are not really many things that can replace that.”

Cunliffe was a team leader that night.

“I was like, ‘Guys these (Wildcats) are all a bunch of freshmen. They think they are going to run us over. It’s the second game of the season,’’’ Cunliffe said. “I was like, ‘I’m telling you guys, we’re going to win.’ That’s what happened. I think we led the whole game.”

Cunliffe, who has played in the NBA G League, hopes his career lasts several more years now that he’s completely healed from a broken collarbone.

“I just got my Italian passport. So this playing in the TBT will be like my coming back out party. Assuming we do well and I do well it’ll springboard me into other opportunities. That’s the goal,” Cunliffe said.

The Jayhawks on Wednesday against K-State’s team (Purple Reign) were playing without point guard Mason, who is expected to attend a TBT practice Thursday in Lawrence.

Of Cunliffe’s performance, Mass Street coach Sherron Collins said: “Sam is looking good. He looks like he’s put on some weight. He’s shooting it well. Sam is looking good.”

Of the KU team, Collins said: “We’re just trying to get guys in rhythm. A lot of these guys (like Cunliffe and Preston) flew in today and are just getting off the plane, It’s about them getting their rhythm together. You could tell these guys (Wildcats) have been practicing together, They looked good. We’ll be that way when we get Frank, a few missing pieces here. We’ll be OK.”

The Wildcats led by a lopsided 68-52 with four minutes left when the Elam ending went into effect. One twist was that the game’s organizers allowed KU to tie the score at 68 entering Elam. It was decided the first team to hit 76 points would win the game.

K-State led 73-68 at one point. Leading 73-72, KSU put it away with three consecutive free throws.