Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Defeat Florida Gators
The Kansas Jayhawks basketball team tallied another home win on Friday, but it probably did not go according to Bill Self’s script.
Really, I wanted the headline to be something like “Kansas Jayhawks get their crap together and start to play basketball in the second half.” Unfortunately, my editors didn’t think that was a good idea – no matter how accurate.
Regardless, Kansas shook off its third abysmal half of the season, one that found them in a 15-point hole heading into the locker room.
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Whatever Coach Bill Self said during the break worked, albeit not immediately. The Gator lead swelled to eighteen points at the 16:40 mark in the second half before the Jayhawks started chipping away.
Fueled largely by tightening up its defense and sophomore Wayne Selden Jr. bouncing back from a zero-for-ten performance against Michigan State, Kansas finally knotted the game at 52 with 6:18 left in the game.
That was part of a 17-0 Jayhawk run that turned a 9-point hole into an 8-point lead, which the Jayhawks never relinquished, holding on to win 71-65. Selden finished with a game high 21 points and only one turnover – but no rebounds and only one assist.
Freshman Cliff Alexander came off the bench to notch another double-double, with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Perry Ellis had a solid, but not spectacular 10 point and 5 rebound performance.
If these summaries seem a little subdued it is because, while I’m happy the Jayhawks came back and got the win, it’s frustrating that they were in that position to begin with.
The entire first half Kansas didn’t have the same energy as the Gators. They were out-rebounded by 7 and gave up 13 second chance points. The entire Florida offense centered around driving through the Jayhawks perimeter defense like a hot knife through butter and dumping into the post or kicking out for an open jumper.
Conversely, the Jayhawks had no rhythm on offense whatsoever. The passing was lazy, and there was little effort to feed the posts in the front court. Instead Kansas settled for driving the lane and forcing up difficult floaters rather than kicking out to the perimeter. Even when they did get the ball out they couldn’t knock the shots down, managing only 34.8% FG shooting in the first half.
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Granted, the boys in crimson and blue aren’t going to play a perfect game in every outing. In some ways, you might say they were due for a letdown after a strong performance in Orlando and Florida struggling heading in the game. However, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen them struggle offensively, and I’m not just talking about the Kentucky game.
This season is going to try Jayhawks’ fans patience. Unlike other teams, this year’s Kansas squad is going to need some time to gel. We know that Ellis is going to be the quiet leader of the team. We realize that Selden is feast or famine, at least for now.
Alexander is coming into his own and will probably be starting sooner rather than later. Despite what most Kansas fans think, I agree with Self’s approach to ease freshman Kelly Oubre into the fold and keep pressure off him to be a phenom for as long as possible.
There will be more games like this. There will definitely be some games where the comeback falls short, or never materializes and all and the Jayhawks will be on the wrong end of a double digit point differential. If Kansas can continue to put the pieces together and perform a little more consistently, the potential of this team is much higher than an eleventh straight Big 12 championship.