Kansas Basketball: Perry Ellis Is Carrying The Jayhawks

The Kansas basketball team has accomplished an amazing feat. The Jayhawks have won at least a share of their eleventh straight Big 12 regular season championship. Perry Ellis has pretty much carried them to the finish line.

Thanks to an incredible comeback by Iowa State against Oklahoma (ISU was down by 20 at one point in second half before coming back to win by seven) on Monday, the Kansas Jayhawks have secured at least a tie for the league championship.

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Kansas has two games left to wrap up the championship all for themselves. On Tuesday, they host West Virginia, and they take to the road to conclude the regular season at Oklahoma on Saturday. Neither will be easy wins.

West Virginia beat the Jayhawks just two weeks ago, and this time, Kansas may be without Cliff Alexander. The freshman forward was held out of last Saturday’s match-up with Texas, due to an NCAA investigation into his eligibility, and no word has been released if Alexander will be on the court against the Mountaineers.

The Jayhawks held off a second half comeback by the Sooners in January, to win 85-78. Kelly Oubre had a big day, dropping in the 19. Perry Ellis added 16 for the Jayhawks.

If this Kansas basketball team is going to finish off the regular season with at least one more win, and if they hope to go very deep at all in either the Big 12 Tournament, or the NCAA Tournament, a few players need to step up, and consistently help out Ellis on offense.

According to the official Big 12 stats, Ellis is averaging 14.5 points a game. In league play, however, Ellis has upped his game, averaging 15.8 points, good for third in the Big 12. After scoring just four points in the conference opener at Baylor, Ellis has hit double digits points in all but two Big 12 games.

He has really been fantastic over the past few weeks. He has scored at least ten points in nine straight games, averaging 18.8 points over that stretch.

He has been particularly terrific in the three last games, scoring 75 points, or 25.0 an outing, according to ESPN’s team pages.

Ellis is also third in conference play in rebounding (7.6), and field goal shooting (50.5), despite hitting just nine of 21 in his last outing against Texas.

He has played himself into the discussion of Big 12 Player of the Year, and two more great games may solidify that award for him.

The problem Kansas has right now is that the team around Perry Ellis is struggling to score. Inn the last two games, Ellis has averaged 26 points, and the rest of the team, 40. That isn’t going to cut it.

You just never know where points are going to come from. While it is nice to have a team that is somewhat balanced, scoring-wise, the Kansas Jayhawks are less balanced, and more inconsistent.

Wayne Selden Jr enjoyed a great five game stretch recently where he averaged 16 points a game, but he has followed that up with four game in which has tallied 23 points – total.

Brannen Greene averaged 10.7 over seven games, but has averaged just 4.2 points in the five games since that stretch.

Frank Mason III has probably been the most steady contributor among all Jayhawks. He had a streak of 21 straight game with at least ten points, but has scored five or less in two of the Jayhawks’ last five games.

Freshman Kelly Oubre Jr has probably been the most inconsistent of all Jayhawks. In Big 12 play, he has eight games with 14 points or more, and five with six points or less, including two games with zero points, and another with one.

These four players are probably the best options Kansas has to really get hot in March. This Kansas basketball team will be so much better if all of them can pick up their games, and be consistent scorers in the coming weeks.

Perry Ellis has been terrific of late, but he needs help. He won’t be able to carry this team far by himself in post season play. The Kansas Jayhawks have plenty of talent, even if Cliff Alexander doesn’t return, but they will need everyone clicking to make another Final Four appearance.

Congratulations to Bill Self and his Kansas basketball team for their 11th consecutive Big 12 championship. Hopefully, they can win it outright, and make a deep run in the post season.

Next: 2008 Champs: Where Are They Now

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