With just under six minutes to play in Tuesday night’s showdown between Kansas and Colorado, the Jayhawks found themselves in a dogfight. Colorado had chipped away at the lead all second half, never letting KU get comfortable.
Every time Kansas landed a punch, the Buffaloes punched back. And when the scoreboard read 60-59, with Colorado trailing by just one, it felt like the game was teetering.
Then Melvin Council Jr. happened.
What followed was a two-play sequence that flipped the energy in Allen Fieldhouse - and maybe even the outcome of the game. It started with a block on the defensive end by Flor Bidunga, and Council took it coast-to-coast for a transition bucket.
His momentum carried him out of bounds past the baseline, but instead of fading out of the play, he instinctively stuck out his arms - and deflected Colorado’s inbound pass. The ball bounced back into his hands.
Now, was he out of bounds when he touched it? Absolutely.
His feet were clearly over the line. Colorado fans and players were calling for a whistle.
But it never came. The refs let it play, and Council didn’t hesitate.
He pulled the ball out to the three-point line, then drove straight back to the rim for another layup.
In the span of seconds, Council turned a one-point game into a five-point swing - and lit a fire under the KU bench and crowd. Colorado head coach Tad Boyle had no choice but to burn a timeout to stop the bleeding.
But the damage was already done. That moment sparked an 11-1 Kansas run that would ultimately seal the game.
“I was trying to get back,” Council said postgame. “My hands were up, and I got the ball.
That’s really it. I wasn’t even thinking about stealing there.”
Intentional or not, it was a momentum-shifting sequence. And even Colorado’s Isaiah Johnson acknowledged it, saying, “The ref didn’t call it, so it was a great play on him, and he finished the layup. Happens.”
Council wasn’t done. He added four more points during that decisive run - another strong layup through contact around the three-minute mark, followed by two made free throws on the next possession. In total, he scored eight of KU’s 11 points during that stretch.
Tre White summed it up best: “I feel like that kind of won the game for us. Kind of set the energy. Yeah, that’s Melvin.”
Council finished the night with 18 points on an efficient 7-for-13 shooting, including 2-for-4 from deep. He also chipped in seven rebounds and three assists, leading the Jayhawks in scoring and sparking them when they needed it most.
With head coach Bill Self sidelined due to illness, assistant Jacque Vaughn took the reins - and he didn’t mince words about Council’s impact.
“The plays that he made gave us momentum,” Vaughn said after the game. “He’s done that before for us.
[He’s got] it in his head that he’s not going to allow us to lose. He got to the rim.
He was aggressive. And he gave us life when we needed it.”
In a game that could’ve gone either way, Council’s effort - and that controversial, chaotic, game-changing sequence - was the difference. Sometimes, it only takes one player to tilt the court. On Tuesday night, that player was Melvin Council Jr.