A (semi) Statistical Recap of Oklahoma

I’m guessing Kansas fans have been waiting for a game like that for awhile - a 30-point win in which Kansas scored 1.46 points per possession, the most they’ve scored in a Big 12 game since senior night in 2008 against Texas Tech. In doing so, Kansas showed, regardless of how bad Oklahoma is on defense, it has the potential to beat anyone in the NCAA tournament just by virtue of shooting them out of the gym.

Kansas played well defensively for long stretches of the first half, and some parts of the second half as well, but mostly relaxed after it built its big lead, which allowed Oklahoma to get a ton of easy looks... and it still didn’t matter because of how good Kansas was offensively.

Kansas took close to half its shots from three, and shot 55 percent from deep, which is pretty much all you need to know. But they also made two-thirds of their twos, rebounded 40 percent of their misses, and turned it over on just 15.5 percent of their possessions. Malik Newman, Devonte Graham, Lagerald Vick, and Svi Mykhailiuk combined for 20 assists and 2 turnovers, and were a combined 16-28 from three. Regardless of what happened on defense, that effort was good enough to beat anyone.

Defensively, though, Kansas played a bit better than their numbers suggest. Oklahoma did shoot 54 percent on twos, but Kansas mostly took away their easy looks on jumpers, and absolutely locked the Sooners down the first five or so minutes of the game.

They also did a master class on Trae Young, who had his second lowest offensive rating of the season. Young did have 9 assists, but also had 5 turnovers, was 2-8 inside the arc, was limited to just five 3-point attempts, and only got to the line four times. He also had more shots blocked than shots made.

• Malik Newman quietly had an incredible game, going 3-5 on twos, 4-6 from three, and adding 5 assists and a pair of steals.
• Devonte Graham put on a performance of the guy whose number was retired by doing everything but actually murdering Trae Young on the court. He was 3-6 from two, 5-11 from deep, and added 7 assists to just 2 turnovers. And while he couldn’t defend with that type of intensity every possession, he showed when he’s locked in he can defend as well as anyone in the league. He also played in “just” 35 minutes, which is his lowest amount since December 18 against Nebraska-Omaha.
• Svi Mykhailiuk had a nice bounce back game going 4-7 from three, and adding 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
• Lagerald Vick struggled early with his energy, but he was 3-4 from three and had a couple really nice finishes off lobs. He also had 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
• Udoka Azubuike struggled with fouls, but when he was in he was dominant. He was 4-6 from the field with 3 blocks and 3 steals, turning himself into an all Big 12 quality defender right before our eyes.
• Marcus Garrett didn’t have his best offensive game, and didn’t fill up the boxscore, but had quite a few deflections and played well defensively, which is definitely a higher priority for Bill Self.
• Silvio De Sousa had his best game in a Jayhawk uniform, going 3-3 from the field and 4-4 from the line. He also had 6 rebounds, all in just 13 minutes. De Sousa showed some nice patience in the post and played pretty decent post defense on a couple possessions against Khadeem Lattin.
• Mitch Lightfoot played in just 7 minutes due to foul trouble, but had 4 points and 3 blocks in those 7 minutes.