Jayhawks unhappy with defensive ‘attention to detail’ (+video)

Even 26-point wins can be scrutinized, and Kansas’ first look at its 105-79 victory over Austin Peay on Thursday revealed one glaring weakness – defense.

It could partly be an eye-of-the-beholder examination, since the Jayhawks had nine blocks, eight steals and held Austin Peay to 28 points in the first half on the way to an easy NCAA Tournament first-round victory.

But there is evidence to support KU’s criticism. Austin Peay scored 51 points in the second half, had four double-figure scorers and often found open shots. The Governors scored 33 points in the final 12 minutes, mostly against KU reserves.

“We didn’t make them uncomfortable,” KU forward Landen Lucas said. “That’s the thing that we’ve been doing to teams recently is just making them uncomfortable, and I felt like today, we never did anything that really created a lot of havoc.

“They were just coming down – if they made a shot, they made it and if they missed it, they missed it. They were comfortable.”

KU hadn’t allowed that many points in a non-overtime game since Iowa State scored 85 during a win in Ames, Iowa on Jan. 25 – KU’s last loss. In reaching 100 points for the fifth time, the Jayhawks created an up-tempo environment that wasn’t conducive to defense, especially in the final 10 minutes.

It also can be difficult to remain steadfast defensively when the outcome is never in doubt. The human element wasn’t accepted as an excuse for Jayhawks players dissatisfied with their guarding.

“The key is just sticking to our principles, doing what we’ve been doing since Day 1,” KU guard Frank Mason said. “The things that got us here. We just have to be better on the defensive end, shrinking the floor and paying better attention to detail.”

There were some positive takeaways.

About 13 minutes into the first half, KU’s full-court pressure prevented Austin Peay from crossing halfcourt in the allotted 10 seconds. Mason led that effort, one he deemed few and far between.

“We need more than one possession to get in a groove on the defensive end,” Mason said. “We expect more like three to five stops (in a row) – that will really get us going.”

Lucas and Jamari Traylor provided big plays during those fleeting feel-good moments, each with a powerful blocked shot in the first half as KU held the Governors to one basket in a nearly seven-minute stretch.

Lucas also was effective against Austin Peay’s leading scorer, 6-foot-8 senior Chris Horton, who finished with 14 points in 10 rebounds while making 5 of 12 shots. He had eight of his points in the final 12:17.

“I knew he had great moves,” Lucas said. “I knew they would try to get it to him in good position, so I was just trying to make him catch it off the block if possible.”

Traylor had nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 18 minutes, using his high-level energy for defensive purposes.

“We can’t win without stopping guys,” Traylor said. “That’s really what I wanted to do when I was out there. We’ve got to do a better job when we come out here in the next game, because we can’t give up these points like we did today.”

Not enough Jayhawks followed the lead of their more aggressive teammates. KU never mastered defense without contact, committing 27 fouls that led to 37 Austin Peay free throws.

An inconsistent defensive showing was good enough to beat an overmatched opponent. The Jayhawks don’t expect similar incongruous results going forward.

“You could just see, they were dribbling it up the court pretty easily, passing it around and then getting a shot that they want out of their offense,” Lucas said. “That was probably a possession where we didn’t really guard like we could.

“Toward the end of the season, we didn’t let teams have too many of those; I felt like today they got more than usual.”

This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 7:14 PM with the headline "Jayhawks unhappy with defensive ‘attention to detail’ (+video)."