Jalen Wilson was KU’s best performer for the 14th time in 30 games this season. He was productive but not efficient on offense, and far better on defense than given credit for. The only other starter to produce a positive-value game was K.J. Adams, who also played good defense overall despite giving up a few baskets inside due to his size at the 5. Ernest Udeh also had a positive game and now sits just fractionally above-bubble for the season.
On the other end of things, Kevin McCullar graded slightly below-bubble but made memorable clutch plays late. His recovery block on former teammate and fellow Kevin was incredible. His hustle for the stick back basket to put the Hawks up 3 late was just another of huge high-leverage positive final-minute plays that he has made in close games this season. If the game is close, he just seems to be able to make the winning play. Dejuan Harris had a surprisingly negative game, although the deep 3 he allowed with a few seconds left (to cut a 5 point lead to 2) was a contributing factor. It wasn’t bad D, but his man stuck the shot so per the system these points were allowed by him. These types of “luck” plays will certainly balance out over the course of a season, so be careful to not extrapolate from single-game results. Gradey Dick was KU’s worst starter, but overall his performance was only negative due to poor shooting (0-7 from the floor, 4-4 FT’s for a TS% of 22.2%). Joe Yesufu hit his first 3 (when the KU starters couldn’t get anything to drop from the outside), but then proceeded to miss 2 shots and allow 6 points on defense. Since a nice, three-game run in late January/early February, he has recorded an average Adj. PPG +/- of -2.10 over his last 6 games. Still, he has been KU’s best guard/wing off the bench for the year and likely deserves 8-10 minutes per game. Bobby Pettiford only played a few minutes and missed his only shot.
The TEAM score was barely bubble-level but enough to get it done against an actual bubble-team.
Charting the Hawks 