No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks (15-1 overall, 4-0 Big 12) vs. No. 14 Iowa State Cyclones (13-2, 4-0)
Time: 3 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023
Location: Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas
TV: Big 12 Now via ESPN+ | Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network via Learfield
1. Be strong with the ball… or else
In looking ahead to Saturday’s matchup with the Cyclones both Kansas point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. and head coach Bill Self emphasized how talented ISU is defensively.
“They play as hard as anybody that we could ever play against and, defensively, they’re probably as good as anybody that we’ll play against this year,” Self said on Friday.
Later, he added: “I’m amazed at how hard they play and how competitive they make each possession.”
The Iowa State defense plays a lot like Texas Tech’s in that it downs opponents’ ball screens to try to force them to play where they want to play rather than allowing freedom of movement.
Harris said he’s seen enough of that approach to know how to navigate it — both from teams like ISU, Tech and others and in KU’s own practices — but it doesn’t make it any easier to play against.
According to KenPom.com, Iowa State has the sixth most efficient defense in the country, led largely by their nation-leading 29.8% turnover rate. In forcing an opponent’s miscue on nearly one of every three possessions, the Cyclones also rank first in non-steal turnover percentage (14.3) and fourth in steal percentage (15.4).
Iowa State is not a full-court pressure type of team, and because of that Harris said the biggest thing for KU to focus on was sharing the ball, looking for skip passes, finding open creases to attack and sending cutters constantly through the lane.
“They play really good defense, one of the best defensive teams in our conference,” Harris said. “We have to come out ready to play from the start.”
2. Get Gradey going
As was the case with Ochai Agbaji last season, Oklahoma showed that teams in the Big 12 are going to be more than willing to face guard and throw all of their attention at KU freshman Gradey Dick to keep him from beating them.
Dick scored just eight points, on 1-of-8 shooting, against the Sooners and both Self and Harris said Friday it was as much up to the rest of the Jayhawks to help him find a rhythm.
Self said this team could learn a lot from what last year’s team did to help Agbaji get open while trying to help Dick do the same.
“They’re totally different,” Self said of the two players. “Ochai was 22 years old and Gradey’s 19. “But I thought we did a better job of screening for Ochai than we (do) for Gradey.”
Self specifically noted that last year’s 5 men — David McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot — were among that team’s best screeners and this year’s bigs have not been.
“It’s not all just on Gradey,” Self said. “It’s on everybody else trying to help him.”
Added Harris: “We have to set more screens for him. We need him to get a lot of touches because he’s one of our best scorers. If we get him more touches, that opens up more for our offense. When we get him going, our offense gets to clicking.”
3. Points matter
While so much of the focus in this game will be on Iowa State’s defense and how well it can slow down Kansas, the Jayhawks’ defense could play a big role here, as well.
Look no further than Iowa State’s five of ISU’s lowest scoring games of the season for proof of how much that could matter.
In two of them — against Connecticut and Iowa — the Cyclones flat-out lost while scoring 53 and 56 points, respectively. In two others — recent wins over Oklahoma and TCU — ISU scored 69 and 63 points in one-possession victories.
Kansas enters the game averaging 77.8 points per game compared to Iowa State’s 71.5 points per game. The ISU offense also is ranked 80th nationally in KenPom’s efficiency rating while KU ranks 13th in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
For what it’s worth, KenPom’s predictive measures feature Kansas winning this one, 70-62, with the Jayhawks holding a 74% win probability number.
The Kansas defense vs. Iowa State gunner Gabe Kalscheur
Kalscheur enters this one as the Cyclones’ second-leading scorer at 11.8 points per game and shooting 33.3% from 3-point range for the season. While those numbers might seem less impressive than most, his last few games certainly have not.
Kalscheur has been red hot of late, scoring 25 points in the Cyclones’ 84-50 pounding of Texas Tech earlier in the week and hitting the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired at TCU last week.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior has topped 20 points three times in 15 games this season, and two of those have come in his last four games. In addition to the 25-point outburst against the Red Raiders, he also hit Baylor for 23 points in ISU’s Big 12 opener and scored 23 against Villanova earlier in the year.
While he may not be the most physically imposing or intimidating player to face when looking at him, his confidence and competitiveness takes him there quickly.
The guy is fearless and he’s the pulse of this Iowa State team. Like the rest of the Cyclones, Kalscheur will fight anybody for every inch on the floor and he’ll go into each battle believing that he’ll be the one who comes out on top.
His individual 3.9% defensive steal percentage ranks 76th nationally, and it’s a big reason — along with teammate Tamin Lipsey’s 4.1% mark, which ranks 54th — why the Cyclones lead the nation in turnover percentage.
While the Jayhawks are prone to switching defensive assignments on the perimeter throughout games, there’s little doubt that Kevin McCullar Jr. will get his share of cracks at defending Kalscheur. When he’s not on him, look for KU point guards Dajuan Harris Jr. and Bobby Pettiford to try to bother Kalscheur by playing right underneath him and forcing him to drift rather than getting to the exact spots where he likes to shoot.
The Jayhawks who were here last year likely remember his hot shooting day at Allen Fieldhouse that almost beat Kansas. In that one, a 62-61 KU win, Kalscheur was 4-of-9 from 3-point range and the ball was in his hands for the final shot as time expired and ISU took one last crack at the upset.
It’s a clash of two of the three undefeated teams in the Big 12 this weekend at Allen Fieldhouse, but it’s also so much more than that.
Hundreds of former KU players, coaches, managers, trainers and staff members will be back to celebrate the 125-year anniversary of Kansas basketball, and the program has all kinds of events planned around the anniversary throughout the weekend.
One of the public events will be a halftime ceremony in which all of the former players in attendance will be honored on the floor. While that figures to be a lot of fun for the fans in the stands and the former Jayhawks themselves, Self said Friday that there would be a time and place for this year’s team to participate in the celebration.
“I do think it’s an exciting time; it should be a great weekend,” he said. “But what would make it perfect is obviously winning. Our guys are very aware of what’s going on, but by no means is the game taking a back seat to what’s going on.”
That very well could be because the last time KU had one of these big celebrations — in 2018 to honor 120 years of Kansas basketball — the Jayhawks lost on their home floor to Oklahoma State.
None of the players on this roster were here then, of course, but Self has done his best to educate them on how big this will be to so many people.
“I do think there’s a different feel,” he said. “I’m excited about the weekend. I’m not an early-riser and I was in the office at 6 this morning.
“TJ is telling his group, ‘Can you believe the opportunity we have, to go ruin their weekend?’ And we’re telling our group, ‘Are you kidding me? We’re not going to let anybody (ruin this).’ It’s going to be a fun weekend, but it’s going to be a hotly, hotly contested game.”
KU, which enters this one on a nine-game winning streak, leads the all-time series with Iowa State, 188-66, including a 56-10 record inside Allen Fieldhouse.
The Cyclones will be the fourth ranked team KU has faced this season, with the Jayhawks going 2-1 in their three previous games against ranked opponents.
No. 5 Kansas
G – Dajuan Harris Jr., 6-1, 175, Jr.
G – Kevin McCullar Jr., 6-6, 210, Sr.
G – Gradey Dick, 6-8, 205, Fr.
F – Jalen Wilson, 6-8, 225, Soph.
F – KJ Adams, 6-7, 225, Soph.
No. 14 Iowa State
G – Tamin Lipsey, 6-1, 200, Fr.
G – Caleb Grill, 6-3, 200, Sr.
G – Gabe Kalscheur, 6-4, 200, Sr.
F – Tre King, 6-7, 230, Sr.
F – Robert Jones, 6-10, 250, Sr.
