Well, I don't think they'll be sending any tapes of that game to the Hall of Fame. Kansas and Georgetown played a 65 possession game that to me at least seemed a bit quicker than it was (probably due to the helter skelter nature of the game) that saw Kansas score 1.03 points per possession and hold the Hoyas to .97 PPP.
The teams didn't shoot very well, with Kansas being right around their season average of 52.5% and Georgetown shooting 46.4%, about 10% under their season average. While it's no excuse, the oppressive humidity in Hawaii (even inside an air conditioned gym) and the four hour time change had to have played a factor in it. I'm no division one basketball player, but I went to Hawaii when I was younger and the humidity got to me so bad the first night that I almost fainted after walking roughly three blocks (and this was back when I could unironically call myself an athlete); and the jet lag had me knocked out for quite a while, so I can somewhat see why the offense looked bad last night.
But the other reason the offense looked bad is that it just plainly isn't very good right now. That's not to say that it won't be come Big 12 play, but right now the offense can't score in the half court very well. And this provides a problem: Kansas doesn't really have the bodies to be able to run up and down the floor all game (not the least of which because they really can't score without at least one of T2 or T-Rob on the floor) and they can't afford to slow it up too often because of their half court struggles.
The turnover battle was fairly even, with Kansas turning it over on 18.5% of their possessions (still 14th best nationally this year!) to Georgetown's 16.9%, but the Jayhawks preferred to get their defense done in terms of forcing the Hoyas to miss shots. Georgetown shot 48.3% from two, and 29.2% from three, though there is no doubt that Kansas was helped by Georgetown missing a couple open threes.
Kansas did fairly well on the offensive glass, grabbing 33% of their misses, but more impressive was their work on the defensive glass (which is the one that is a truer test of rebounding talent, of course), limiting Georgetown to a 22.9% offensive rebounding rate. They were 27.6% last year, which ranked 15th nationally, so perhaps this team could excel in at least one area this year (as an aside, is it just me or does this team seem a lot scrappier and to give a lot more effort than the teams of the past few years? Or is that just because they're not as good?).
Graph and player notes after the jump
- Thomas Robinson had 5 dunks even though it seemed more like 4901048 and finished with 20 points and 12 boards, though he shot 50% from two and 60% from the line. I'd like to see him shoot around 66% from the line this year and hopefully in the 55-60% from two range in order for Kansas to really have a shot in the tournament this year, and it starts with him being able to hit that face up 12-15 footer.
- Tyshawn had 16 points, shot only 2-5 from two and 3-5 from the line but made up for it by shooting 3-3 from three. That three point shooting is a bit of fool's gold, but a 72.2% eFG is a 72.2% eFG
- Conner Teahan shot just 1-5 from three and is going to have to get better unless he wants to have a permanent spot next to Niko Roberts. With how good Merv Lindsey is supposed to be at shooting, and the fact he can't be any worse than Teahan defensively, I wonder if he might not start getting some of that playing time.
- Elijah went 3-3 from two but just 1-6 from three (though he did have 5 assists to 2 turnovers). I think we saw first hand last night that he's at his best when you just let him be an athlete and attack the basket rather than having to think too much out there.
- Somehow Travis Releford had 10 points on 4-4 shooting (2-2 from the line). He also had four rebounds. He also turned it over 3 times and generally looked lost out there, but his stat line is a lot better than I would have expected.
- Since I didn't get this in the UCLA preview, KenPom predicts a 77-66 Kansas win in 69 possessions tonight, and puts us at 82% to win.