Kansas Jayhawks Basketball vs Long Beach State: A (Semi) Statistical Recap

Kansas put in one of its most complete efforts of the year (even with letting up some in garbage time) as it put a hurting on an overmatched Long Beach State squad. It was sort of close early as Long Beach hit some threes, but the rest of the game the 3-point prowess belonged to the Jayhawks, who shot 14-26 (54 percent) from deep in its best effort of the season from three. Thanks to that game, the Jayhawks are all the way up to 38.8 percent from three, which ranks 58th in the country. Quite the correction for a team some were sounding the alarm on in terms of jump shooting.

Overall Kansas scored 1.26 points per trip. A lot of that is owed to the threes, but Kansas also shot well from two (64.5 percent), and grabbed 46 percent of its misses. Imagine how bad it could have gotten had they not turned it over on a quarter of their possessions.

Defensively, meanwhile, Kansas continued to show it doesn’t necessarily need a rim protector to put the clamps on. Long Beach scored just .85 points per possession, making just 40 percent of its twos. The 49ers actually shot 42 percent from three, but with only 12 attempts it wasn’t enough to cause any concern. They also grabbed just 24 percent of their misses, proving the point that they are the prototype for the profile Kansas wants to see in March.

Letter grades?

• Lagerald Vick: A+. Vick finished with a 167 offensive rating, going 5-5 on twos and 4-4 from three to finish with 23 points. He did have 2 turnovers (the horror) but also a block and 2 steals.
• Frank Mason: A. Mason was no slouch, going 2-3 from two and 1-3 on threes. He had 8 assists and just 2 turnovers.
• Josh Jackson: B+. Jackson had a couple fantastic assists, and a near miss where Azubuike mistimed an alley oop, and finished 1-3 on twos, 2-5 from three, and 5-8 from the line. He also had 4 assists and 3 steals, but also 4 turnovers and he got lost defensively a few times.
• Devonte Graham: B+. Graham made all 3 of his twos and was 2-4 from three. He had 4 assists and 2 steals, but 3 turnovers.
• Udoka Azubuike: C. Azubuike was 3-6 on twos, but did have 7 rebounds. I’m sticking with a C because basically anyone could get 7 rebounds against Long Beach State, and he struggled defensively.
• Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk: A-. Svi was 4-8 from three and grabbed 2 rebounds. He is now up to 43 percent from deep on the year.
• Dwight Coleby: B. Coleby made his only shot and had 5 rebounds in 12 minutes.
• Carlton Bragg: C. Bragg ended up 3-6 and had 6 rebounds in 11 minutes. He struggled to get into the flow of the game due to some awful foul calls, but it’s worth noting he also struggled defensively.
• Mitch Lightfoot: D. Somehow committed 4 fouls in 7 minutes.