Kansas Basketball: Quentin Grimes must get on track for Jayhawks

The Kansas basketball team won their first ten games this season despite a rocky start by freshman Quentin Grimes.

The Kansas basketball team suffered their first loss of the season and dropped from number one to number five in the AP poll and Coaches poll. It wasn’t surprising after stumbling late to Arizona State.

The Kansas Jayhawks seemed to be in control the whole game against the Sun Devils, but in the end, poor shooting (everywhere but the free throw line) did KU in. They hit just 41.5 percent of their shots from the field and 25 percent from behind the arc.

Most of the Jayhawks scoring this season has come from Dedric Lawson (20.6 points per game) and Lagerald Vick (16.8 ppg). With Udoka Azubuike out, Kansas is severely missing his 12.9 points an outing.  Freshman Devon Dotson is the only of Kansas basketball player in double digits in scoring with 10.8.

Lawson has been a consistent scorer. Outside of the Vermont game, where is inexplicably scored zero, he has tallied at least 16 points and chalked up at least 20 points in eight games. Vick has been the most erratic – while he’s scored 27 or more four times, he also has five or fewer points in three ball games. He has 12 to 16 points in the other four contests.

The Jayhawks simply need another consistent scorer on the perimeter. Vick is human and will have some cold nights. He cannot carry the load himself.

The most logical option for points would be Quentin Grimes. The freshman was ranked as the eighth best prospect coming into this year by ESPN. He was the MVP of the US team in the Under-18 FIBA Americas Championships this last summer, where Bill Self was his head coach.

Big things were expected of Grimes, especially after this sparkling 20-point debut against Michigan State. Unfortunately, Grimes has struggled since that game. He’s only scored more than eight points in two other games and has notched less than eight points seven times.

Throw out his six for ten shooting performance from three-point range against the Spartans and Grimes has made just five of his 28 attempts from behind the arc (17.9 percent). He’s only made 30 total shots from the field in 80 for the year.

On defense, Grimes looks to be lost at times. He seems slow to help from the weak side and has been beaten on backdoor cuts a few times. His on-the-ball defense doesn’t look too bad, and he does seem to be improving in other areas as time passes, but he appears to still have a lot of work to do on the defensive end.

Grimes has shown some occasional flashes – the Michigan State game stands out but he played well against Wofford too (14 points, three rebounds). It looked maybe he turned a corner in that game but has only scored only 20 total points in the four games since.

Grimes needs to knock down the freshman wall into which he has seemingly crashed. The Jayhawks are in a stretch where they only have three games over a three-week period. The extra time without the pressure of games ight help Grimes.

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They have just one more tune-up before Big 12 Conference play kicks in next week, a home tilt with Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

Hopefully, the extra practice time the team is getting with the school on its winter break will help. Maybe his trip home for the holidays will re-charge his body and mind.

There is little doubt this Kansas basketball team needs help scoring and making stops on defense, even when Azubuike returns. Grimes needs to be the player to step up.

Outside of Wofford and South Dakota, the Jayhawks haven’t enjoyed any blowouts, and both of those were close for a while. Kansas didn’t sprint past South Dakota until the final eight minutes.

Every other game has been within 16 points at the end, and five of their wins have come by single digits. KU has won all of their close games but the one against Arizona State, but it will be much tougher to do that once they are playing conference opponents.

Look for Grimes to pull out of his funk soon. Look for him to get his game going and become a consistently good scorer in Big 12 play. He has too much talent not to!

This Kansas basketball team needs Quentin Grimes to be good. Don’t be surprised if he starts delivering very soon and becomes a key element to another Big 12 championship for the Jayhawks. If not, KU might have a rockier path toward their 15th straight ring.