A (semi) Statistical Recap of Louisiana

When looking at the scorelines of Kansas’ most recent games, it’s important to remember that Vermont and Louisiana are both better than your typical early season cannon fodder, and both could be in the NCAA tournament and be a threat to win a game.

Still, KU’s performance, especially last night, can’t inspire a ton of confidence. The offense was was good enough, scoring 1.16 points per possession, but allowing .99 points per trip is troubling for a defense that has one big flaw.

Once again Kansas allowed far too many 3-pointers, and far too many of the wide open variety. A clearer picture will have to be provided in the form of a post with video, but Louisiana taking 36 of their 63 field goal attempts behind the arc tells enough of a story to get the picture. If they had shot better than 33 percent, Kansas might have been in more danger than they were.

As it is, allowing Louisiana to shoot 55.6 percent on twos is not very encouraging either, but the major problem is the 3-point defense, which we will look at more in depth soon.

Offensively, Kansas shot 56 percent on twos and 36.4 percent from three. They only took about 34 percent of their field goal attempts from deep, but I don’t have a problem with that when they’re generating the types of looks they were at the rim. Kansas also dominated the offensive glass, grabbing 40 percent of their misses.

The Jayhawks turned it over too much, but they were more of the careless variety rather than being truly forced by the defense, which in my mind is good news. As they gel offensively and as their freshmen (and transfers) get used to playing with one another and playing major college basketball, they should improve in that area.

• What a night for Lagerald Vick, who went for more than 30 again and became the first KU player ever with at least 7 threes in back to back games. He was 7-12 from behind the arc, 4-6 from two, and added 9 rebounds and 2 steals. Quite a week for the team’s lone senior.
• Quentin Grimes struggled to get into the flow of the offense, going 1-5 on twos and 1-2 from three. He added 3 assists and a steal, but really struggled defensively as well, both on and of the ball.
• Dedric Lawson seemed out of it as well, but ended up 6-10 on twos and 7-10 from the line. He also had 6 rebounds and 3 assists, but 5 turnovers marred his effort a bit. Still, it was a nice bounceback from the Vermont game and I think as he gets more comfortable the offense should take off even more.
• Udoka Azubuike finished with with 17 points and 8 rebounds, and gradually wore Louisiana down over the course of the night. He also had 4 blocked shots and beyond that I think played pretty well defensively for the most part.
• Devon Dotson was 2-4 on twos and 0-2 from three and had 3 assists and just 1 turnover.
• Marcus Garrett had 6 points and 5 assists, but really struggled off the ball defensively. He’s really good on the ball for the most part, and he’s a good passer, but I think his lack of shooting in general and his lack of ability at the free throw line means he might not be able to play late in close games.
• Charlie Moore didn’t make a shot, but had 4 rebounds and 3 assists with just 1 turnover. I don’t think KU’s point guard situation should be considered a problem as of yet, but both he and Dotson need to play better for Kansas to get to where it wants to go this season.
• David McCormack had 2 points and 6 rebounds (4 offensive) in 10 minutes.