The Kansas University men’s basketball team had no trouble rolling past an overmatched Montana team on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks (9-1) were bigger, stronger, faster, more skilled and more organized and all of that — and more — showed in KU’s 88-46 victory over the Grizzlies.
Offensively, Saturday’s effort was one of the more balanced outings by this year’s squad. KU got production from a number of places and, once again, was able to spread out the minutes and allow some of the younger guys to get extended action.
The more they can do that the more that will pay off when conference play rolls around in just a couple of weeks.
Quick takeaway
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There’s really not a whole lot you can learn from this game that you didn’t already know. KU was simply way too talented for Montana and the Grizzlies, though willing to battle, simply had no answer for a much better Kansas team and did not put up much of a fight. There were individual moments and individual efforts that stood out, but, overall, the Jayhawks used Saturday’s win as little more than a scrimmage against someone other than themselves.
Three reasons to smile
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**1 – Perry Ellis showed everyone that he is listening and he’s just fine.** As aggressive as he’s looked in weeks, Ellis didn’t always score, but he did always go hard to the rim and that led to a game-high 18 points and 10 trips to the free throw line. That’s the Ellis that this team is going to need in conference play and his night was made all the more impressive by the fact that he led all scorers after taking just seven shots. Ellis is not a volume guy. But he does need to be involved as often as possible when KU gets in the half-court.
**2 – KU has not shot that well at the free throw line for much of the season, but that was not the case on Saturday.** The Jayhawks, led by Perry Ellis’ 10-of-10 showing, were 15-of-19 from the free throw line for 79 percent, 11 percentage points better than their season average. With conference play right around the corner, free throws are going to become a much bigger part of the game and it’s good to see KU trending in the right direction here.
**3 – Give Devonte’ Graham credit for not making any excuses about his oversleeping issue.** Self made sure to point that out — saying that Graham did not blame it on his alarm clock not going off — and then went out and played hard and did the things we’ve become accustomed to seeing from him. He finished 4-of-7 from the floor with 9 points, 2 rebounds and an assist. It wasn’t his best game by any means, but he did not look like a guy who was sulking over the 7-minute suspension.
Three reasons to sigh
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**1 – The big man rotation continues.** None of KU’s five other big guys have emerged as the obvious answer to team with Perry Ellis inside for this team. Self talked about the quandry after the game and said it was nice to have a bunch of good players that he could choose from there, but added that he’d much rather have one Joel Embiid, whom he could play 40 minutes a night and not have to worry about it. KU doesn’t have that. And unless someone really takes a significant step forward very soon, this rotation of able bodies is going to be something Self deals with all season. The good news? The bodies are there. The bad news, it will be hard for KU to develop much chemistry and know who it can count on.
**2 – Cheick Diallo just can’t get going.** And he looks 100 percent inside his own head about it. It’s not that he’s not trying. He is. He’s just still behind and it looks as if he’s still pressing too hard when he’s out there. He fouled out of Saturday’s game and scored four points, grabbed three boards, turned it over twice and blocked one shot. You can just tell by the look on his face most of the time that he believes he can and should be doing better and more. It’ll come. But only if he relaxes, continues to work hard and lets the game come to him.
**3 – Congrats to KU, I guess, for setting the ugly sweater record,** but I just don’t get it. I don’t know who’s running things over there at Guinness, but is this really a record that we need to have or one that anyone needs to know about? Oh well. I guess it gave people a reason to have some holiday fun, so no harm no foul. And, I only included it here because KU played pretty darn well and I couldn’t find a third reason to sigh.
One for the road
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KU’s win over overmatched Montana…
• Gave KU eight-straight wins, which tied the longest winning streak from 2014-15
• Made the series with Montana 2-0 in favor of the Jayhawks
• Made Kansas 98-4 against non-conference opponents in Allen Fieldhouse during the Bill Self era
• Gave KU its 29th-straight win in Allen Fieldhouse, which is the seventh-longest streak in school history
• Made KU 733-109 all-time in Allen Fieldhouse, including 195-9 under Self
• Improved Self 361-79 while at Kansas and 568-184 all-time
• Made KU 2,162-832 all-time
Next up
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The Jayhawks will head to the west coast for their final game before Christmas, Tuesday night at 10 p.m. at San Diego State. The game will be shown on CBS and will be KU’s second-to-last game of 2015. The Jayhawks return to Allen Fieldhouse for a Dec. 29 game against UC-Irvine and then will open Big 12 play on Jan. 2 at home against Baylor.
