Kansas Basketball: Jayhawks must shoot better to advance in NCAA Tournament
By Joel Wagler
The Kansas basketball team must shoot the ball better if they hope to advance very far in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
It is an easy game when the ball is going in the bucket. That cliche has never been truer for a team that it is for this year’s Kansas basketball squad.
While the Jayhawks have been just awful overall in shooting percentage, they haven’t excelled either. They have made 46.2 percent of all the shots from the field which ranks 73rd in the nation, according to the official NCAA stat page.
In Kansas’ two most recent losses, however, poor shooting did them in. They connected on just 40.9 percent against Oklahoma on March 5, and in the Big 12 Tournament finals against Iowa State, only 39.4 percent of their shots fell.
This theme of shooting well below their season average in losses held true in all their defeats. They shot 41.9 percent (221-527) in their losses and 47.7 percent (707-1481) in their wins. Hmmm…
This trend is even worse when you look at their three-point shooting. For the season, the Jayhawks hit just 35 percent of their shots from behind the arc (compared to 40.1 percent in last season). In their nine losses, they shot 31.6 percent (59-187). Of their losses, only at Texas Tech did they shoot better than their season average(9-21, 42.9 percent).
The problem has gotten worse. Over Kansas’ last seven games, this Kansas basketball team has hit just 30.1 percent from long range (43-143).
If the Jayhawks hope to advance past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, let alone knock off possible opponents like North Carolina and Kentucky in Kansas City for the chance to return to the Final Four for the second straight year.
The Jayhawks have got to find a way to get hot in the upcoming weeks. Dedric Lawson needs to continue to stretch defenses by hitting some threes. Devon Dotson needs to lock in from long range and loosen up defenses with long-range accuracy, so maybe he can drive to be the basket easier.
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Most importantly, freshman Ochai Agbaji needs to get back on track. Since starting 14 for 37 (37.8 percent) from beyond the arc, he has been abysmal, cashing in on just 22.9 percent (8-35) of his three-point attempts. Agbaji has done better than expected, considering he was redshirted the first half of the season, but his recent slump has dented to KU offense.
Of course, it is easy to say that shooting is the problem. Of course, if you make more shots, your chances of winning are better. Yes, the Jayhawks have other issues as well, like the eight games where they turned the ball over 16 times or more. Or the eight games in which they hit less than 67 percent of their charity tosses.
When this team is hitting shots, they look like a different team – confident, fluid, unbeatable. When they are missing – they have poor body language and are hard to watch.
For various reasons, this season has been a disappointment in many ways. Injuries, suspensions, leaves of absence have taken this team from number one in the country to a four seed in the NCAA Tournament. A six-game hot streak by this Kansas basketball team is all it will take to erase some of the negatives from this season.
It all depends on if they can get the ball in the hoop!
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