In October 2023, Kansas basketball finally received its punishment for the six-year infractions case saga that hung over the university's head for half a decade. The NCAA dished out a handful of minor penalties, most notably vacating KU's appearance in the 2018 Final Four.
But all Jayhawk fans know that the tournament run did in fact happen, and two massive reasons for it were Devonte' Graham and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk.
Both players graduated that year and were selected in the second round of the NBA Draft. While Graham has enjoyed much more success in his six years of professional action, the former Kansas sharpshooting tandem met yesterday when the Boston Celtics took on the San Antonio Spurs.
The Celtics blew out San Antonio 134-101 in dominant fashion, and being that Graham and Mykhailiuk are complementary bench pieces on their respective teams, they shared the floor for the final 8:00 of the game.
"Tae" scored a season-high nine points, connecting on both of his 3-point attempts while grabbing two rebounds and recording an assist. Meanwhile, "Svi" wasn't nearly as effective, missing all four of his tries beyond the arc and failing to score a point.
After Graham turned the ball over out of the TV timeout, Mykhailiuk wanted to get some bragging rights against his Jayhawk brother and decided to chuck an ill-advised three off a screen while being guarded by his ex-teammate. He couldn't have put up a worse shot.
Svi Mykhailiuk absolutely ripping a 3-pointer while being guarded by former teammate Devonte’ Graham 😂 #KUbball pic.twitter.com/ruxFiTKIWQ
— Joshua Schulman (@Josh_Schulman04) January 1, 2024
Neither player has a big role on their team this year, with Graham serving as a mentor for the younger guards on the team and Mykhailiuk being nothing more than a fill-in during garbage time. Boston did come out with a road victory but the Spurs outscored them 19-15 while Graham and Mykhailiuk were in, so you could say that Graham and the Spurs won the battle of the Jayhawks.