A (semi) Statistical Recap of Texas Southern

If you watched the game tonight, you can claim to have seen the best offensive performance in about 15 years, as Kansas scored a Bill Self era record 1.54 points per possession. The Jayhawks were great in all facets of the game, shooting 57 percent from two, 53 percent from three, grabbing 46 percent of their missed shots, and turning it over on just 9.5 percent of their possessions. Kansas started off by cutting Texas Southern’s zone defense to shreds, repeatedly getting it into the middle of the lane for dunks and open floaters, before expanding to the outside and repeatedly getting wide open threes. It’s safe to say we won’t see a performance like that again this year, but to say that type of a performance was an anomaly would be a misnomer.

Defensively Kansas wasn’t as sharp, almost giving up a point per possession. However, that can entirely be explained by a lack of interest on that end of the floor after about the first 10 minutes of the game (which is understandable psychologically and smart, if only to save energy) as well as TSU going 12-32 from deep. Kansas did a good job keeping them off the offensive glass, though they probably could have forced a few more turnovers.

• Devonte Graham had another double double, and even though he was just 3-8 on both twos and threes, 11 assists and 1 turnover is much more important given the skill sets of the rest of that starting lineup.
• Lagerald Vick had a double double as well, and was 5-8 on twos and 3-4 from deep after a quieter game against South Dakota State. He also had 7 assists.
• Malik Newman was 0-3 on twos, but 4-6 from three to get him up to 50 percent on the season.
• Udoka Azubuike missed three shots so he should be cut. Although he was 9-12 from the field with 9 rebounds and several dunks so on second thought lets keep him.
• Svi Mykhailiuk had 21 points on 9 shots, which I think is good. He made both his twos and was 5-7 from three. He struggled a bit defensively in the first half but Bill Self must have gotten on him a bit because he tightened it up quite a bit in the second.
• Marcus Garrett got in on the deep range act, going 3-5 from three. He was just 1-3 on twos but added 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks and was certainly the best defender.
• Mitch Lightfoot had 10 points and 4 blocks, continuing to show off his rim protection skills.