Kansas center Hunter Dickinson correctly predicted after the Jayhawks’ 91-57 loss at BYU on Tuesday that KU was about to receive widespread criticism from fans and national media.
After four days of hearing that criticism — head coach Bill Self said there could be an opportunity to “pull everybody together” with an us-against-the-world mentality — the Jayhawks have no option but to return to the floor for a Saturday home date with Oklahoma State.
“The story hasn’t been written yet,” Self said on Friday, emphasizing his team will be remembered by how it performs in the NCAA Tournament. “But with that being said, we put ourselves in a position where we actually deserve a lot of the things that (are) probably being said … You want to change that, then fix it.”
Self is envisioning a clean slate for KU.
“We’re 0-0, folks, and this is the start of the season,” he said on his “Hawk Talk” radio show on Thursday. “We got to really hunker down and play our best, starting off in our first game.”
He said the idea of a new season is one he’s often used to motivate players throughout his career, like if they struggle to shoot in nonconference games and need a fresh start in Big 12 play.
“The new season just happens to start tomorrow for us as opposed to Dec. 31 when West Virginia beat us,” Self said. “The new season starts tomorrow. If that isn’t something that can resonate with guys then I don’t know what can.”
It’s not hard to find teams in the Big 12 with more momentum than KU, as it starts from zero, but Oklahoma State certainly has an advantage in terms of recent form. The Cowboys have split their last six conference games after opening Steve Lutz’s first season in the league 2-8.
Most recently, they beat UCF in a shootout at home despite giving up 34 points to Keyshawn Hall, something to which the Jayhawks can surely relate. OSU kept the Knights at arm’s length most of the second half, though they did let UCF cut the deficit to five points with five minutes to go, and the Cowboys eventually won 104-95, led by a career-high 25 points from Bryce Thompson.
Yes, the former Jayhawk guard, who suffered a season-ending injury, is still playing college basketball and remained at OSU through the coaching change from Mike Boynton to Lutz. Thompson leads the Cowboys in scoring, averaging 13.2 points per game since the start of conference play and narrowly edging out forward Abou Ousmane (11.8 points, 5.6 rebounds) and athletic wing Marchelus Avery (11.5 points), who comes off the bench as his team’s most prolific shooter from beyond the arc.
All three are fifth-year seniors, and indeed, of the 11 Cowboys playing meaningful minutes in Big 12 play on the transfer-laden roster, nine are upperclassmen.
“They can score from all five spots,” Self said. “They’ll probably play faster than any team in our league. As far as pressure and pushing it, I think Coach’s goal is that he wants to get a shot up, minimum, in the first 13 seconds even on long possessions. So they’ll try to play fast and score fast, and so it’ll be an athletic game.”
As the UCF final score indicates, Oklahoma State has not been a strong defensive team this season. The Cowboys are 15th in scoring defense in league games, 14th in both opponent field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage and don’t block shots. They do force 13.3 turnovers per game, aided by 2.1 steals per game from point guard Arturo Dean, which places them in the upper echelon of the Big 12 just below Iowa State and Houston, but they commit 13.7 in exchange.
Of course, KU hasn’t necessarily taken advantage of turnover-prone teams in recent days. The Jayhawks forced seven turnovers against Colorado and eight against Utah; each team is averaging nearly twice as many.
No. 23 Kansas Jayhawks (17-9, 8-7 Big 12) vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys (13-13, 5-10 Big 12)
• Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, 3 p.m.
• Broadcast: CBS
• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)
Keep an eye out
To the rafters: KU will retire the No. 7 jersey of Arthur “Dutch” Lonborg at Saturday’s game. Already a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame based on his longtime coaching career at McPherson, Washburn and Northwestern, Lonborg was an All-American for the Jayhawks in 1919, playing in William O. Hamilton’s final season and then Phog Allen’s first, and later served as KU’s athletic director from 1950 to 1963. Allen Fieldhouse was built during his tenure. Lonborg died in 1985 at the age of 86.
First five: With just five games remaining in the regular season, the Jayhawks are still struggling to settle on a consistent starting lineup. At BYU, KU opened with the three-big lineup it had somewhat infamously debuted against UCF in January — Self said he wanted “just to try something different” — but the Jayhawks improbably struggled to rebound, immediately fell behind 8-0 and did nothing to challenge the Cougars the rest of the way. (The new addition to the starting lineup, Flory Bidunga, basically didn’t touch the ball during his first stint on the court.) Self clearly hasn’t been satisfied with Rylan Griffen’s performance as the fifth starter, and Shakeel Moore hasn’t made a meaningful impact in the month of February — Self said Moore “is not going to be 100% again this season” as he battles a chronic foot injury — so it’s not clear where he’ll turn next.
The case for Coit: Reserve guard David Coit has quietly broken out of the shooting slump that hampered his first eight games of league play and gone 12-for-28 (42.9%) from beyond the arc in the last seven. That level of outside shooting is a valuable asset for a team that hasn’t gotten anything resembling consistent production in that department from anyone other than Zeke Mayo and Griffen. Self also said on “Hawk Talk” on Thursday that Coit is KU’s most vocal leader — even if he wishes it were Dajuan Harris Jr. — and among its most intense practice players along with KJ Adams. Coit’s lack of size limits the lineups against which he can be a significant factor, but especially with Moore less and less of a factor these days and Coit continuing to demonstrate solid defense, he’s making it more difficult to keep him off the floor.
Off-kilter observation
Due to the Big 12’s current scheduling model, this season will be the first in 14 years in which KU does not make a return trip to Gallagher-Iba Arena.
AP Photo/Rob Gray
