This was the most troubling statistic in KU basketball’s exhibition loss to Illinois
Kansas coach Bill Self wasn’t happy with his team’s performance in an 82-75 loss to Illinois in the Maui Relief exhibition game.
“We’ve got a long way to go. We’re not close,” Self said. “We’ve not figured out who we are going to play yet. (We’ve) got a kid hurt (Johnny Furphy). We’ve got little depth. We knew that going in. We’ve got some issues where our margin of error is not as high as maybe what it has been some years past.”
Self talking down his team at the beginning of the season and then building it back up isn’t exactly new.
But his words, at least at this point, ring true — the Jayhawks are far from making a deep March tournament run.
There’s plenty for KU to improve upon, even if there’s no real reason to panic. It’s still early in the year and a team with newcomers will have growing pains.
One area KU must improve: perimeter shooting.
Self has stated multiple times this offseason that perimeter shooting could be a weak spot for the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks.
That was on full display on Sunday. Kansas shot 3-for-12 (25%) from beyond the arc. By comparison, the Jayhawks shot 34.7% from long range on 20.1 attempts a game last season.
KU’s 2021-22 team, which won the national title, shot 36.1% from 3 on 19.8 attempts per game. That KU team was tied at No. 50 nationally in 3-point percentage.
Both the percentage and, more notably, the number of attempts, lagged in the exhibition opener.
KU guard Kevin McCullar shot 2-for-3 and star big man Hunter Dickinson shot 1-for-3 for Kansas’ only made 3-pointers. By comparison, the Illini went 11-of-27 from 3.
In the offseason, McCullar returned to Kansas after testing the NBA Draft waters. Last season, McCullar shot 29.6% from beyond the arc — and he’s at 29.8% for his college career. He wants to improve those numbers.
“Of course, in the NBA you want to shoot 40%,” McCullar told The Star. “But anything 37% and up, I’ll take that. I feel like that’s going to put us in the best position to win ballgames if I am shooting at that high level.”
As for what NBA teams told him to improve?
“It’s just about knocking down shots,” McCullar said. “They know I can create for others and different things like that. Really ... (it’s) getting that percentage up and knocking them down.”
McCullar improving his 3-point shooting is important for this KU team because there are still several unknown regarding the team’s floor-spacing ability.
Take the starting five, which will almost certainly feature point guard Dajuan Harris, forward KJ Adams and center Hunter Dickinson, along with McCullar and one other player.
Dickinson has been adamant about shooting more 3-pointers this season after hitting them at a 42.1% clip last season. That said, he attempted just 1.7 per game and made less than one a night a year ago.
On this year’s KU team, Dickinson said he hopes to shoot three 3s per contest, adding “it won’t be to a detriment to the team” at Big 12 Media Day.
That would certainly be a welcome lift for KU. Otherwise, teams will do what the Illini did to KU — pack the paint and dare Adams, who is not much of an outside scoring threat, and others to shoot the ball
Last season, Adams didn’t score much further than 6 feet from the basket. He spent much of the offseason working on his jump shot, but he’s still unproven outside of the paint.
Two plays in particular from the exhibition showed how the Illini exploited Adams’ developing jump shot.
Midway through the second half, KU trailed 58-53. KU freshman Jamari McDowell swung the ball to Adams with 12 seconds left on the shot clock.
He stepped into the mid-range area with a wide-open jumper available, because his defender was double-teaming Dickinson.
Instead of a jump shot, Adams took an awkward floater that allowed his defender to recover and contest. Adams missed the shot, though in this case Dickinson scored on the follow.
Not even a minute of game time later, the Illini stopped KU by packing the paint again.
Adams received a pass from Harris on the perimeter, with his defender a few feet away.
Instead of taking the shot, Adams roamed into the midrange and took a tough floater that air-balled.
Adams finished with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting, but most of his points came inside the paint.
Defenses may sag off him if he is unable to prove that he can routinely score from the mid-range (or farther out).
Another part of the equation is with Harris, who shot 40.1% from 3 last year — but only on 2.1 attempts per game. Like Dickinson, he averaged fewer than one made 3-point shot per game.
Harris is a capable shooter, but his hesitancy to shoot can result in his defender helping off of him. Multiple times against the Illini, Harris had open 3-pointers that he passed up. He finished 0-for-1 from beyond the arc.
If Self feels that his starting lineup lacks shooting, it could force his hand to start Towson transfer Nick Timberlake next to Harris, rather than freshman Elmarko Jackson.
Right now, Jackson and Timberlake are in an open competition for the last lineup spot, but Timberlake is the more-proven shooter. He shot 41.6% from 3 on 6.7 attempts per game last season.
Jackson did start vs. Illinois. He scored four points on 2-for-4 shooting and went 0-for-1 from 3 in 26 minutes.
By comparison, Timberlake scored four points on 2-for-6 shooting. He also went 0-for-3 on his 3-point attempts in 17 minutes.
Notably, Timberlake is not shy about launching up 3-point attempts, which could be something KU needs.
“In the practices that we’ve had, I’d say it is a welcome sight,” Self said of Timberlake’s shooting in the offseason, “because I do think he can make baskets.”
Sunday’s first look, though, did not feature many 3-point makes — or attempts. It will be interesting to track how that trend progresses throughout the year.
This story was originally published October 31, 2023 at 6:30 AM with the headline "This was the most troubling statistic in KU basketball’s exhibition loss to Illinois."
