Fans need to be patient with Henry

Kansas freshman Xavier Henry has to be going through the worst shooting slump of his life during the first four games of Big 12 play (I don't have his second-grade YMCA league stats handy, but I've got Carl Henry working on tracking those down for me). Henry has made just 11 of 42 shot attempts (26 percent).

This has been startling for everybody, especially Henry, I would assume. He prides himself on his outside shot and his natural ability to score, and he has to be wondering if the magic has dried up. Certainly, if he ever took his talent for granted, he won't anymore after this brutal stretch.

KU coach Bill Self did the right thing on Saturday by pulling Henry from the game for most of the second half. He had made just 2 of 10 shots and had air-balled two more 3-pointers, and he wasn't affecting the game very often in other ways. Henry has been taught his entire life to shoot his way out of a slump, and he's always been able to. This time, it hasn't worked out that way. Better to have him sit for a bit and watch a guy like Brady Morningstar go out and affect the game without scoring. It's a learning experience.

I see KU fans starting to sour on Henry, but I hope they'll be patient (of course, some fans are souring on him in the name of hoping that he'll play his way out of the NBA lottery and come back for a second season). I expect Henry to come out of this and be a better, more complete player the rest of the way because of it.