Oh hey, another game where Kansas has some trouble finishing off a much worse opponent. I have seen this movie before. Heck we're going on year two of it. Hopefully this year ends differently.
Three point shooting was definitely a big key last night, as Iowa State shot just 9-32 from beyond the arc. If they had made a few more we could have had a real problem on our hands. Of course, Kansas was just 5-19, so a couple more and we could have put it away much sooner.
The Cyclones shot 100% from the line, but because of their propensity for shooting beyond the arc they only got there 10 times. Our free throw problems showed up again, as we shot just 61% from the line, below our average of 67.6% on the year. Though that was certainly hurt by Markieff's 5-11.
This game basically comes down to this: Kansas was saved by Marcus Morris.
-
Well let's start with Marcus Morris. The Junior had 30 points and 13 rebounds, and better than that he did it efficiently: 11-15 from the floor (all from two) and 11-14 from the line. It is probably the best game by a KU player this year. His points came from everywhere: post moves, jump shots, driving to the basket, pull up jumpers, everything.
-
Markieff was overshadowed a bit, but still had a fairly good game. 17 points, and on 6 of 9 shooting from two. He did miss all three of his threes however, though his percentage is in the high 30s (albeit in not many attempts) so I am fine with him continuing to shoot it.
-
Josh Selby had another poor game. 2-5 from three, which was nice. But only 3 of 7 from two and I think that unlike in previous games where he wasn't too good, last night he was forcing shots from the outside when he probably shouldn't have been and didn't take it to the hole enough, especially since every time he did it worked out well for him.
-
Tyrel Reed had a nice little game: 1-3 from three (though he was 0-2 from two), and had 3 assists, 2 steals and hey 1 block.
-
Tyshawn had kind of a bad game: 1-6 from the field (0-3 from three) and he is now below the "break even" point of 33%. He did have 4 rebounds and 4 assists, but also turned it over 4 times. He did play good defense from what I could see though.
-
Thomas Robinson had 3 fouls in 6 minutes. I think that his grandmother's death is still weighing heavily on him, which is perfectly understandable. Hopefully we as Kansas fans will all consider that before we criticize his play too much.
-
Elijah separated his shoulder again, which sucks. It probably won't be the last time this year either. But he got back in there, which is nice to see.