Outside of Johnny Furphy’s breakout performance Monday, the latest in a string of several impressive showings for the freshman, Kansas’ game against Cincinnati was rather lackluster for the Jayhawks’ offense.
The rest of the team shot 38.6% — right below the 39.3% to which KU held UC as a team. Of the Jayhawks’ two All-American candidates, Kevin McCullar Jr. willed his way to 20 points but went an inefficient 5-for-17 from the field, while Hunter Dickinson couldn’t get much going against a big and athletic Bearcats lineup and committed unnecessary fouls that kept him on the bench. KJ Adams Jr. and Dajuan Harris Jr. played right around their averages, though Harris committed five turnovers and shot 3-for-10.
In addition, the KU bench did not make a field goal, even with Elmarko Jackson and Parker Braun playing a combined 22 minutes.
Following a somewhat more restful week, the onus will be on all nine scholarship players — even Furphy — to elevate their game offensively as they head to Hilton Coliseum for a Saturday matinee against Iowa State.
The Cyclones have fielded one of the top defenses in the Big 12 and by extension the country, holding opponents to an average of 61.1 points per game while forcing more turnovers than almost anyone else in the country at 18.5.
“I think they’re tough,” KU coach Bill Self said Thursday. “I think they take the personality of their coach (T.J. Otzelberger) and also their point guard (Tamin Lipsey). I think that they guard as well and as hard and as connected as any team that we’ll play this year.”
For KU, which has found itself in dire circumstances in several games this season upon turning the ball over 18 times — below average for the Cyclones — ball control will be key.
“It seems like to me they play a style that they’re going to steal extra possessions,” Self said, “and if you can’t match or if you don’t do that, you’re starting a game down seven to nothing or whatever, because they will play hard enough to always do that.”
Self has previously said he thinks the team needs to aim for 10 or fewer turnovers because it’s not good enough on offense to account for substantially more than that; so far, KU has hit that mark in eight of its 19 games.
At the core of ISU’s defensive effort is Lipsey, whose 3.2 steals per game make him almost a full steal better than anyone else in the conference. Last year’s all-freshman guard does a little bit of everything and leads the Cyclones with 14.1 points and 5.6 assists per game while matching forward Tre King at 5.3 rebounds. Self said that the 6-foot-1 Lipsey “may be as good a rebounder as we have in our league.”
Lipsey missed the Cyclones’ one-point win over TCU on Saturday due to a sprained shoulder, as ISU withstood a game-ending 16-4 run by the Horned Frogs. He returned for the game against Kansas State Wednesday night in which the Cyclones blew a lead but held off the Wildcats with a late 13-1 run, as the teams were assessed a combined 47 fouls.
Joining Lipsey in the backcourt, and in the top 10 for steals in the Big 12 (a list on which key reserve Curtis Jones is also No. 4), is UNLV transfer Keshon Gilbert, who averages 13.6 points per game. Freshman Milan Momcilovic makes 39.8% of his 3-point attempts. He hit a contested baseline jumper between two defenders with 30 seconds left to help ISU beat previously unbeaten Houston on Jan. 9, and scored a team-high 19 points against K-State.
“They’ve got some great wings, really talented team, really well-coached, but I think what stands out much is just how hard they play,” Braun said.
Two points that will work in KU’s favor: Iowa State does not shoot many 3s and does not rebound especially well as a team, which could be a reprieve as the Jayhawks have struggled on the boards over the last two games.
The Cyclones’ two losses in conference play have come on the road at Oklahoma and BYU; they dropped nonconference games to Virginia Tech and Texas A&M at the ESPN Events Invitational.
They have not lost at Hilton this year, while KU has dropped two of three road games to open Big 12 play. ISU will not be making a return trip to Lawrence this season.
“With a talented team like that, they’re going to be competing for that top spot with us,” Braun said. “Getting that game over them is something that can be really critical down the road.”
Self is 13-6 in Ames, although the Jayhawks lost there 68-53 last season in a game where Self said they were lucky to get 53 points.
“They’ve had good teams and we’ve won our fair share up there,” Self said on his “Hawk Talk” radio show. “But this’ll be a hard game, one in which we need to be locked in and loaded and ready to go.”
No. 23 Iowa State Cyclones (15-4, 4-2 Big 12) vs. No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks (16-3, 4-2 Big 12)
• Hilton Coliseum, Ames, Iowa, 12:30 p.m.
• Broadcast: CBS
• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9)
Keep an eye out
Another leap: As Furphy continues to grow into his starting role, he’ll need to get better at defending guards on the perimeter. His length allows him to alter shots when they get inside, but players like Oklahoma’s Otega Oweh and Cincinnati’s Dan Skillings Jr. have given him serious trouble off the dribble and blown past him to get to the hoop. Teams are in the habit of immediately attacking Furphy whenever a player gets switched onto him, and he’ll need to prepare for that sort of attention from opposing offenses.
Self said it’s a matter of Furphy figuring out just how much space he can give; at times against Cincinnati he gave up too much because he didn’t want to get beaten off the dribble and then allowed a shot.
“When he just gets a little bit stronger and can learn how much he can space certain guys and things like that, I think he can be a pretty good on-ball defender,” Self said.
Bumps and bruises: Dickinson and McCullar have battled bruised knees. That’s nothing abnormal this time of year. But the impact of these issues is magnified for a team that depends on its starters to play more minutes than basically anyone else in the country. The hope for KU will be that a somewhat longer period to rest after Big Monday has allowed them to recuperate significantly entering Saturday’s test; Self said that only the players who play fewer minutes practiced Wednesday.
View from the bench: Braun, the backup center, acknowledged that as one of the older players on the team — he turned 24 Thursday, a day on which he spoke to the media — part of his contribution to the team is off the court, providing perspective he’s picked up over his nearly six seasons of college basketball. He said he’s been impressed by the team-first mentality of some of the younger players coming off the bench.
“No matter what’s asked of them — Mari (McDowell) can get DNP some nights, Elmarko can not start — but whatever the team needs, whatever Coach asks them to do, they’re going to do,” Braun said. “That can change, and that can be tough when you’re that young, coming from how highly recruited those guys are — they’re used to being the guy.”
Off-kilter observation
Iowa State assistant coach Kyle Green was on the Northern Iowa coaching staff when the Panthers stunned KU in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
