KU Jayhawks’ defense dandy in 59-41 win at K-State: ‘They had 35 with one minute left’
It took a six-point scoring barrage by Kansas State in the final minute Wednesday night for the Wildcats to avoid recording the lowest point total against Kansas in a Big 12 men’s basketball game in the 18-year Bill Self era at KU.
“I thought we guarded well,” Self said after the No. 23-ranked Jayhawks’ 59-41 victory over the Wildcats at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan. “They missed some open looks (so) let’s not get too carried away.
“They had 35 (points) with one minute left. We didn’t guard them the last minute,” Self added after the Jayhawks’ fourth consecutive victory.
The Wildcats (5-18, 1-13), who hit their last two threes in mop-up time, went 3-of-24 beyond the arc and suffered their 13th consecutive defeat.
Overall K-State hit 31% of its shots in finishing with 41 points — two more than Nebraska totaled against Self’s Jayhawks in a 92-39 KU victory during the 2006-07 season. The third worst scoring performance against a Self-coached KU team (in a league game) was Texas Tech’s 42 points in a 79-42 KU win during the 2012-13 season. As far as all games in the Self era, Alcorn State managed just 31 points in a 98-31 loss to KU in 2009-10.
The Jayhawks (16-7, 10-5) did not exactly click on offense for the second straight game. KU on Saturday produced just 64 points in a 64-50 victory at Iowa State.
“Everybody would rather score points,” Self said. “Even though it doesn’t maybe look as pleasing watching it, it is something our team has to buy into winning that way. If we do that, we can be in the game the last five minutes against the best teams.”
KU had just two players score in double figures on Wednesday. Marcus Garrett scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while Jalen Wilson just missed out on his fourth straight double-double in scoring 11 points and grabbing nine boards.
Kansas, which finished with nine assists to K-State’s 11, was 4-of-16 shooting from three, while hitting 45.8% of its shots overall.
“I think our guys have bought into this and that’s something we’ve been trying to get them to do a long time. So I in no way, shape or form am going to diminish what we’ve done,” Self said, “because they are actually doing exactly what I want them to do, (which) is learn how to win ugly.”
The offense certainly was ugly Wednesday. KU hit 11 of 17 free throws to K-State’s 2 of 6.
However, the defense was dandy. K-State’s Mike McGuirl missed 10 of 11 shots and was 0-for-6 from three, good for two points. Seldon Miguel went 0-for-5 shooting and did not score. Nijel Pack was 3-of-12 shooting for six points. The only Wildcat in double digit scoring was DaJuan Gordon with 12 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Yes, Gordon’s teammates went a combined 12-of-45 for 26.7%.
“One thing about it, if you win by 18 in a low-scoring game, that’s 24 in a medium-scoring game and 28 in a high-scoring game,” Self said.
He cautions that KU’s final three games — at home against No. 15 Texas Tech on Saturday, at No. 12 Texas on Tuesday and at home versus No. 2 Baylor on Feb. 27 — may be difficult to win without putting up better offensive numbers.
“It’ll be challenging. When you play the best teams, it’s always challenging,” Self said. “We won at Texas Tech and scored 58 (in 58-57 win on Dec. 17). It’s OK whatever it is. It’s a situation we know that if we score in the 80s it probably doesn’t benefit us when you are playing really good competition. It would be hard for us to get 80 against really good competition, especially teams that guard.”
Self left Manhattan with positive feelings about his bench. Freshman guard Bryce Thompson scored six points and grabbed three rebounds in 21 minutes. Senior Mitch Lightfoot had four points and three rebounds in 14 minutes. Freshman Dajuan Harris had two points, two rebounds, two assists and three steals in 10 minutes.
“Bryce rebounded the ball well. His activity level was great,” Self said. “He got a couple layups, made a nice little foul-line jumper off a ballscreen that will give him confidence.
“Mitch drew three charges. He only got credit for two, but drew three. Juan (Harris) … to me he needs to look to score. Even though he’s not going to score a lot, when he looks to score he puts pressure on the defense. He has good vision. I thought he was good. We are a different team when we can rest those starters,” Self noted.
KU senior point guard Garrett played 30 minutes. He hit 2 of 4 threes; his teammates 2 of 12.
“Coach kept telling us, ‘Keep shooting the ball,” Garrett said, “eventually they’ll fall. When we’re open he wants us to take those shots.”
Of KU’s defense, which allowed just 17 first-half points, Garrett said: “I’d say we are talking more. We are more connected on defense. We’re following scouting report. We’re focusing more on scouting report.”
KU, which now has won five straight games versus Kansas State, will take its four-game win streak into Saturday’s 1 p.m. home game against Texas Tech.
“Nobody is going to catch Baylor,” Self said of the Bears, who are 9-0 in the league, with six games to make up that have been postponed by COVID-19 protocols.
“I feel better about our team than I have (since) midway through December. We are getting better. We’re just not making shots,” he added.
KU won for the second straight season in Bramlage. KU is 5-3 in the last eight meetings at Bramlage and 9-5 overall since the Jayhawks won the first 19 games ever played between the teams in the arena that replaced Ahearn Fieldhouse as home of the Wildcats.
KU on Saturday will try to complete a season sweep of Texas Tech. The Jayhawks edged the Red Raiders, 58-57, on Dec. 17 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 9:06 PM with the headline "KU Jayhawks’ defense dandy in 59-41 win at K-State: ‘They had 35 with one minute left’."
