Three Point Luck Dooms Kansas In Loss To Kansas State

53.3% and 17.6%. That is what Kansas State and Kansas shot from three last night. Really, the recap should end there and I should go watch some Olympics (curling!) but these have to be at least 150 words, so we press on.

Kansas had Jamari Traylor out due to a suspension, and Joel Embiid severely limited due to injury, and they still pushed Kansas State to overtime despite giving up approximately 150,000 layups (having your 2 best interior defenders out will do that).

Offensively, Kansas was fine elsewhere: they shot 50% from two, turned it over on just 14.7% of their possessions, and grabbed 44% of their misses. If they make (or K State misses) one more three, then Kansas wins the game and they are a bunch of gritty winners who just know how to win, rather than the sky being falling. Neither is true. Kansas is a really good team who had to deal with their best two interior defenders being out, played poorly defensively, and still almost won.

One problem to address is the screen and roll defense. With no Embiid, Kansas still switched every screen despite the gaping crater in the middle of the defense. I expect that will get adjusted going forward, and now more than ever I bet we see quite a bit of zone defense, as well as some pressure, in the tournament. I know Self hates the press because they give up easy buckets, but they're giving up easy buckets as it is. Kansas is going to be deeper and more athletic than just about every team they play. It's time to take advantage of it.

Andrew Wiggins: 8. Wiggins struggled from the field a bit, but finally started getting to the line. He added 5 rebounds and a steal, and played well defensively.

Perry Ellis: 8.5. Ellis gets a special bonus for playing every minute of the game until his foul out. He was 5-12 from the floor, 9-12 from the line, and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Naadir Tharpe: 8. Tharpe had 10 assists to just 3 turnovers, and was 5-8 from two. Just 1-5 from three though.

Wayne Selden: 2. Selden struggled with his shot and has continued to be poor defensively

Joel Embiid: N/A I'm not going to rate Embiid because he's basically a shell of a person at this point. Last night did a lot to remove the last bit of doubt in my mind that he's the conference player of the year though.

Tarik Black: 6.5. Black filled in admirably down low, and despite getting his ankle rolled on, was 4-7 from two and added 7 rebounds.

Brannen Greene: 7. Greene played well, despite a costly turnover and some poor defending. He did have 3 steals, and was 3-5 from two and 4-4 from the line.

Ratings Over. Let me go watch Olympics.