Seriously, folks, Self wants 40-plus points

By Gary Bedore     Nov 23, 2014

Nick Krug
Kansas guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk leans down for a talk with head coach Bill Self during the second half of the Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The question tossed to Bill Self served as a perfect set-up for a comical one-liner.

“What improvements do you want to see on offense Monday against Rider?” was posed to Self, Kansas University’s 12th-year basketball coach, who paused at Friday’s weekly news conference, smiled and delivered the gem: “Well, I’d like to score more than 40 points. I think that would be a huge improvement.”

He’s been amazed at — and been willing to poke fun at — his team’s offensive woes in Tuesday’s 72-40 loss to Kentucky in Indianapolis.

“We need to shoot free throws better,” noted Self, whose squad converted 15 of 27 versus Kentucky after making 23 of 32 in a 69-59 opening victory over UC Santa Barbara.

“You know, 40 points wasn’t really who we were, based on how we play. We played bad, obviously, but watching the tape, we didn’t play well enough for it to be a three-point game, but we played better than the score.

“For the majority of the time, we couldn’t make a shot, and we couldn’t score over length, and I think that messed with our heads. We started playing individually as opposed to a team when the team stuff didn’t work. But we never gave the team stuff a chance. We never ran offense one time the way we’re supposed to in order to give it a chance.

“I would like to see us be able to learn how to score through what we run. We run good stuff, and I really feel like when guys really understand how you score out of what we run, we’ll be able to play and be much more efficient offensively, because we certainly weren’t the other day.”

He gave an example.

“It would be like a quarterback … if a play is designed for a three-step drop, and he takes five steps, the timing is off. It’s all screwed up,” Self said. “And that’s where we were the whole time. We never caught the ball in the right spot. Our screened angles weren’t correct. We bounced it one too many times. We didn’t drive to pass. There were a lot of things we didn’t do very well that I think we can correct, but it’ll take more time.”

KU, which had 11 shots blocked, went 11-of-56 from the field for a school-record-low 19.6 percent marksmanship. KU hit 22 of 53 shots for a chilly 41.5 percent vs. UC Santa Barbara.

“We have to do our assignments right. If everybody does their job right, then the offense works,” freshman guard Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “Little details in the offense get us successful. We have to learn how to do the little details even when we don’t think they’re working, because they are. Coach Self’s offense has proven to work for numerous years now. We just have to do it and be successful doing so.”

KU hit three of 15 threes after making two of 10 against the Gauchos.

“In the (UK) game, we had nothing we knew we could go to,” sophomore guard Brannen Greene said. “Past teams knew they had something they could go to. They knew if they could throw it into the post, the guy was going to seal. We watched film. We saw where we needed to be, and we weren’t. The spacing was bad. When we run our 2-game, Frank (Mason III) is at the top, Devonté (Graham) is at the top when he should be all the way on the wing, and Wayne (Selden Jr.) should be in the corner. You’ve got to see it on tape sometimes to make the correction. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to get better.”

KU had four assists and 11 turnovers against UK after totaling 11 assists, 16 turnovers versus the Gauchos.

Mason in two games has one assist, four turnovers and Graham two assists, three turnovers.

“We talk so much about, ‘Drive it, drive it, drive it,’ so he drove it,” Self said of Mason. “We talk about driving to pass as opposed to driving to score, especially on the first side or second side against length. The way they (Wildcats) played, they didn’t care if they got beat, because they funneled you to the bigs, and then they didn’t help off the perimeter very much.

“It’s a pretty good way to play. He’s got to be able to drive in there to make something happen for other people. We didn’t do a good job of that. He didn’t do a good job, but nobody did a good job of that. Wayne and Devonté were bad at it, and those were the three guys that probably are the most equipped to get in there and create havoc. That’s something that we got to improve. At least we got in there. There was no intimidation factor at all of us getting in there. We just couldn’t do much when we did.

“You’re not going to set any records on assists when you have 11 field goals. So that’s a little bit misleading on assist numbers. But, yes, we got to do better job of feeding the post.”

This, that: Graham, who suffered a right shoulder sprain against Kentucky, shot on the side and took part in non-contact drills at practice Saturday. … Time for Monday’s Rider game is 7 p.m. in Allen Fieldhouse.

Embiid update: Former KU center Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers returned from a trip to his homeland of Cameroon two weeks ago. He had joined family members at the funeral of his younger brother, Arthur, who died in mid-October in Africa.

“I feel like there’s peace. He came back with some level of peace, but how that plays out day to day, I have no idea. I can only assume that playing would add some level of therapy,” Sixers coach Brett Brown told the Delaware County Times.

Embiid is out until February at least following offseason foot surgery.

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