This was a weird game, with EWU using the Groves brothers to generate most of their offense. Basically whoever was guarding the Groves brothers gave up a lot of points. McCormack had an excellent offensive game, but got outscored by Tanner Groves’ career day. Christian Braun started out playing solid defense, but gave up a few 3’s late in the first half. He also had his hand at playing a small-ball 5 during the second half, in which he gave up multiple buckets inside. Ochai Agbaji also had a poor defensive game, particularly early. He got beat on back-cuts and lost his man on more than one occasion. On the flip side, Bryce Thompson balanced out a rough shooting day (1-6 FG’s, all 3’s), with a solid defensive performance. He only gave up 3 points in 19 minutes, and also added 2 defensive rebounds and drew a charge.
But the stars of the game were Dejuan Harris, and primarily Marcus Garrett. Harris chose the right time to score in double-figures, reaching 13 on 5-8 (3-4) FG shooting. He also had 4 assists, 0 TO’s, and 2 steals. He only allowed 9 points while playing 35 minutes. It was his third-best overall game on the season, behind the St. Joe’s and first Texas Tech games.
Garrett had his third consecutive “+” game, or game where his PPG +/- was greater than the team’s margin of victory. KU’s season is likely done without Garrett. He put up 20 points on highly efficient numbers, and only gave up 4 on the defensive end. For the season, he is +4.35 on Adj PPG +/-, a full point higher than David McCormack’s score for best on the team. If this Kansas team is going to make a run over the next few weeks, it will be because Marcus Garrett continues to play at the highest of levels.
Charting the Hawks 