How Devon Dotson helped KU shift its defensive identity vs. Marquette
The beauty of statistician Dean Oliver’s creation of the “Four Factors” in basketball is that all of the game rests within these measurable traits.
There’s shooting, rebounding, turnovers and free throws. All of what happens in a basketball game falls tidily in those four boxes, with each interacting with the others to produce a game’s final result.
Kansas, for most of the season, has struggled defensively with the shooting percentage part. The Jayhawks have given up a lot of threes — and open ones — a problem that continued in the first half against Marquette in Wednesday’s 77-68 victory.
Yet the Jayhawks were able to turn things around quickly with the biggest contribution from guard Devon Dotson, who showed that KU’s defense could be improved with extra emphasis on a different one of Oliver’s four factors.
The first half was ugly for KU. Marquette was getting to the spots it wanted, positioning itself on the perimeter while confusing the Jayhawks with a bevy of screens. That often led to outside shooters getting open looks.
Point guard Markus Howard was the catalyst, as the preseason all-Big East selection had 11 of his team’s first 25 points.
KU coach Bill Self demanded better effort from his players in the halftime locker room.
“It started with Devon,” teammate Dedric Lawson said. “He took Markus Howard out of the game and sped him up.”
Self has a saying for this he likes to use often: Cutting off the head off the snake. He believes that defensively, his point guard dictates how the whole team plays energy-wise, as each of his four teammates watch him defend when each possession first begins.
Dotson began to make things difficult for Howard ... and that had a ripple effect. Marquette’s offense became clunky. The Golden Eagles struggled to run their same actions and constantly seemed to be backed up on dribbles closer to mid-court than the three-point line.
“I thought their pressure really pushed our offense out,” Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “We didn’t have the same flow.”
Howard’s second-half line reflected that. He went 1-for-10 after the break with two assists and one turnover, as Dotson guarded him 18 of those minutes.
“He was terrific defensively,” Self said of Dotson. “He certainly responded to the challenge.”
KU assistant coach Kurtis Townsend offered some of the same praise on KU’s postgame radio show, saying Dotson defended Howard “about as well as anybody could” in the second half. Wojciechowski was complimentary too, saying he admired Dotson’s “great competitive spirit, great competitive juice.”
All that helped KU get after an opponent when it previously hadn’t done much of that this season. After forcing five first-half turnovers, the Jayhawks created four in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the second half as part of a 22-0 run.
This is where Dotson can make an impact every game. His shots aren’t always going to fall, and because of the talented teammates he has, his offensive production is likely to fluctuate night to night.
The defensive energy he showed Wednesday, though, potentially gives KU’s defense a new way to succeed.
A passive Jayhawks defense became an aggressive one, just that quickly.
And turnovers — for a half — became a part of KU’s defensive identity, helping the team to a comeback that much of the night seemed unlikely.
Jesse Newell
Jesse Newell covers University of Kansas athletics for The Star.
This story was originally published November 21, 2018 at 10:55 PM with the headline "How Devon Dotson helped KU shift its defensive identity vs. Marquette."