Safford sees playing time

By Sam Wilson

Published Feb. 1, 2008

In junior guard Matt Lawrence’s opinion, Wednesday night’s stat sheet from a 66-62 loss to Nebraska didn’t tell the full story about freshman forward Justin Safford.

“To have a guy like that coming off the bench, bringing so much energy, so much impact to the game every time he’s out there, I think it’s great for us,” Lawrence said.

Safford’s stat line was somewhat unimpressive. He shot just 1-for-5 from the field, scored 2 points, had four rebounds and one assist in 18 minutes. But coach Mike Anderson also said he was pleased with Safford’s performance for a team short-handed by the suspension of five players.

Safford has seen action in 15 of MU’s 21 games this season. Going into Wednesday, he had averaged just 7.8 minutes in the games he did play in. So the 18 minutes on the floor were an opportunity to see where his game was.

“I think it’s just a stepping stone in a different direction,” Safford said. “I haven’t been out on the floor as much, and it kind of made me see what I need to bring night in and night out.”

An area Safford said he wishes to improve is protecting the ball. He turned the ball over twice in the game.

“I was not too happy with the turnovers,” he said. “But I guess that’s just part of the game, and you’ve just got to keep playing.”

Nebraska center Aleks Maric had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. But that was a far cry from the 31 points and 19 rebounds Maric had last season when the Cornhuskers beat the Tigers in Lincoln. Junior forward DeMarre Carroll said it was a group effort to slow down Maric. He’s giving Safford some of the credit.

“Maric, he’s a great player,” Carroll said. “I’m not going to take anything away from him, but I think we did a great job on him. I think (Vaidotas Volkus) did a good job on him. Justin did a good job on him, I did, so we kind of took him out of the game.”

The night didn’t end on such a positive note for Safford. His team suffered a tough 66-62 defeat, and he was not in the game at the end. With 10 minutes and 24 seconds to go, Safford went up to block Nebraska guard Steve Harley and came down with cramps.

“It really knotted up on me, and I just couldn’t get it to go away,” Safford said.

He sat the rest of the game, even though he said he could have played if it was absolutely necessary.

“I could have,” he said. “I could still feel it, though. But if I had to go in, I was ready to go back in.”

Safford will likely need to stay ready. Anderson said there is a possibility that the suspensions could be lifted before Saturday’s game against Kansas State, but he also seemed to intimate that their status was still up in the air.

Safford might have to deal with two Kansas State freshmen who have made immediate impacts this season. Michael Beasley scored 25 points, and Bill Walker scored 22 in the Wildcats’ 84-75 upset of Kansas on Wednesday night. Tip-off is set for 12:30 p.m. Saturday.