Quick grades for five aspects of KU’s 76-60 victory over Syracuse in Miami at the Hoophall Invitational.
Offense: B+
Enough Jayhawks had rough nights to bring this down a notch. And the team, as a whole, got off to a rough start. But the fact that Devonte’ Graham tallied 35 for the second game in a row and Lagerald Vick was terrific both as a scorer and as a facilitator in the middle of the zone brought the high-scoring Jayhawks to the brink of the A range.
Defense: A
Syracuse made just five field goals in the first half and shot 32 percent for the game. Syracuse’s 2-3 zone got all the attention, but it was the KU defense that won this game. That, and stellar senior Devonte’ Graham, of course.
Frontcourt: C+
Silly fouls by both Udoka Azubuike and Mitch Lightfoot put the Jayhawks in a hole early and Clay Young came in to play nine strong first-half minutes to bail the team out. Even with that, neither Azubuike nor Lightfoot perfomed the way they’re expected to, even though they each made a few good plays.
Backcourt: A-
Devonte’ Graham by himself brought this into the A range and the rest of the KU backcourt had an up-and-down kind of night.
Bench: B
Give Young a ton of credit for the minutes he played. And Lightfoot was good early in place of Azubuike but could not find a rhythm and stay on the floor. Marcus Garrett looked a little overwhelmed from start to finish and played the least impressive game of his young career.
