Statistical Rearview: Kansas vs. Michigan

Game flow...what more is there to say.  I think Jay Bilas said it best.  This team didn't play the best and they won easy.  That's why right now many think they are the best team in the country.  As a Kansas fan and someone who's looking at this from the perspective of wanting to win a National Title, I'm left wanting a little more.  Scoring margin aside, a consistent overall intensity isn't always there and I can't really blame the team.  When as a player you can show up, win on talent alone and win fairly easily on talent alone, I'm sure it can be tough to come out spittin fire.  Maybe that's a good thing, maybe the high ceiling with this group is a positive.  Let's just hope we started consistently playing at that level before it's all said and done.

In the four factors of winning Kansas again dominated the eFG% category.  Michigan lives and dies by the three, while Kansas attacks the basket.  For that same reason Kansas doubled Michigan in trips to the line, dominating that aspect of the game.  However, Michigan's 10 steals led to Kansas losing the turnover battle, an area Kansas had looked pretty good lately but took a step back in on Saturday.  Also in terms of second chances Michigan won the battle of the offensive boards and really went toe to toe with Kansas in terms of rebounding all day.  A lot of that has to do with Michigan's tendancy to shoot a lot of threes, long threes...long rebounds...more second chances.  Those two areas kept it close as Michigan shot the ball 19 times more than the Jayhawks, but today was a day where effiiciency won out.

Michigan attempted 67 FG's, Kansas only 48.  However Kansas converted at a 52% clip while Michigan a mere 35%.  That gives Kansas a +1 margin in FG's made while also doubling the Wolverines in trips to the free throw line.  Sure the run and gun three point shooting style can be glamorous, but it's awful nice to have advantages like the two above.

Stat	Game
Points	64	75
FG Att	67	48
FG Made	24	25
FG Pct	35.8	52.1
FT Att	13	26
FT Made	11	19
FT Pct	84.6	73.1
3pt FG Att	28	19
3pt FG Made	5	6
3pt FG Pct	17.9	31.6
Rebounds	34	37
Off Rebs	14	7
Def Rebs	20	30
Team Rebs	5	0
Assists	15	16
Steals	10	6
Blocks	1	6
Turnovers	10	14
Fouls	20	16

I don't recall who said it, but in the OGT the statement was "who would have thought the Morri would be our most consistent players."  Last year the Morri were the guys that every opposing school loved to hate, mocking the BB Gun incident and their seemingly sour attitudes on the court.  This year, I have a feeling they are again going to be the guys our opponents fans are going to hate...but this time it isn't because they are the butt of a joke.  This time it's going to be because they are producing at a level better than their players.  Sherron, Xavier and McMorris ran the show on Saturday.  Two of those names would have been expected at the beginning of the season.  A double double and top scoring performance from McMorris...not a bad bonus.

Despite all the talk that Coach Self could go 12 or 13 deep if he wanted to, we got a little glimpse of reality.  In a game that wasn't as crisp and had the potential to be close down the stretch the bench went about 9 deep.  9 deep is probably pretty much par for the course at this point in the year for Coach Self.  Makes you wonder if the talk a week or so ago about changing his philosophy in that area was real or lip service.  As a fan, I'm not partial to one way or the other, just an interesting observation.

		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	FTM	FTA	FT%	3PM	3PA	3P%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
	M. Harris	*	37	16	6	15	40	2	2	100	2	7	28	0	4	4	4	2	1	4	1
	S. Douglass	*	36	8	2	8	25	2	2	100	2	7	28	0	4	4	2	2	0	0	3
	Z. Novak	*	35	8	4	10	40	0	0	0	0	4	0	5	2	7	2	2	0	2	4
	D. Sims	*	29	19	7	16	43	5	6	83	0	2	0	3	4	7	0	2	0	1	4
	L. Lucas-Perry	*	20	2	0	3	0	2	3	66	0	2	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	1	3
	D. Morris		23	9	4	7	57	0	0	0	1	3	33	1	1	2	4	0	0	0	2
	Z. Gibson		11	2	1	6	16	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	2	4	1	0	0	1	3
	A. Wright		8	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
	M. Vogrich		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
		S	MIN	PTS	FGM	FGA	FG%	FTM	FTA	FT%	3PM	3PA	3P%	OR	DR	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF
	X. Henry	*	34	15	6	15	40	1	2	50	2	8	25	1	0	1	1	2	0	1	2
	M. Morris	*	32	23	7	10	70	8	8	100	1	2	50	3	7	10	0	0	1	3	1
	S. Collins	*	31	19	7	10	70	4	5	80	1	4	25	0	2	2	2	1	0	6	2
	C. Aldrich	*	27	5	0	3	0	5	8	62	0	0	0	2	9	11	2	0	3	1	0
	T. Taylor	*	23	2	1	3	33	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	5	5	5	1	0	1	3
	B. Morningstar		22	2	1	2	50	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	2	3	1	0	0	2
	T. Robinson		11	2	1	2	50	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	0	2	0	1
	T. Reed		11	6	2	3	66	0	0	0	2	3	66	0	3	3	0	1	0	1	0
	M. Morris		9	1	0	0	0	1	2	50	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	5