CB had his 6th team-MVP game, and his first of conference play
Game Summary
An offensive explosion pushed the Jayhawks to 102 points in a 78 possession game (1.31 PPP). Accounting for opponent, location, and tempo; it was the team’s fourth-best outing (Missouri, Iona, St. John’s). The total score of +14.69 was KU’s third consecutive +10 or greater game score. For the season 16/27 games have been +10 or better for KU.
On the individual side, the best overall performance was from Christian Braun, who played solid defense on a night where Kansas gave up 83. Lightfoot and Yesufu were also good on both ends. Other positive performers included Wilson, Agbaji (who outscored a poor defensive game), and Coleman-Lands.
David McCormack had his best overall game of the season with a value score above +14.00 thanks to nearly 19 points of offensive production and only 3 points allowed on defense. Joe Yesufu and Jalen Wilson also had solid games. Ochai Agbaji’s offensive output of nearly 20 points produced was offset by allowing 17 points on defense. He did poorly on the possession side of the ledger (had more misses and turnovers than rebounds and steals) which contributed to a negative overall score.
The team’s +14.81 score is currently its 6th best performance of the season.
Ochai Agbaji had his best outing since the Texas Tech double OT game, and earned his 10th team-MVP of the year
Game Summary:
Kansas got solid outings from multiple players against Oklahoma State, with Agbaji adding the most value in the game. Och was active on both ends (had 10 defensive rebounds/steals/forced TO’s) to contribute over 9 points in value for the game. David McCormack had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Dejuan Harris also finished with 12 points to go along with 5 assists and solid defense.
Zach Clemence got credit for 6 rebounds to offset an off shooting night. His energy and skill warrant more time moving forward.
Unlike last game where they were the two best players, Christian Braun and Jalen Wilson were not as sharp. CB managed to add some value, making him 21/25 with a positive-value game. J-Wil missed some layups with the game already decided, hurting his offensive production value.
Joseph Yesufu didn’t do much on offense despite playing over 22 minutes. He balanced an assist with a turnover, but it was his 1/5 shooting that affected his score.
Neither K.J. Adams nor Bobby Pettiford played long enough to record much activity. Adams fought for a loose ball to get a tie-up (that went OSU’s way) and Pettiford had a post feed to McCormack that got him an assist in the official box score.
The walk-ons made the final score closer than it should have been. A team score of +10.34 is lower than it otherwise would have been. For the game, the team’s offensive and defensive efficiency (opponent-adjusted) were each above-bubble.
Kansas was carried to victory by Jalen Wilson and Christian Braun, the only two Hawks to finish with above-bubble numbers for the game. Wilson produced over 22 points of value on excellent efficiency, while only giving up 8 points on defense. Braun was not quite as productive or efficient (although he was still very solid), but his defense was even stronger than Wilson’s (7 points allowed, more rebounds/steals/forced TO’s).
Zach Clemence came back from injury to help spark the Kansas comeback. He did finish with a negative score, which is more due to the fickle nature of a one-game moment than in how he played. He knocked down an assisted three, grabbed a few rebounds, and played solid defense for the most part. The only downsides to his performance was the missed free throws and a late and deep three that his opponent hit during OU’s desperation spurt during the final minute. If Zach gets more minutes and plays like he did, he will start putting up positive game scores.
The other Jayhawks were negative performers. David McCormack started out strong, but his defense (16 points allowed) negated his inside scoring presence. Neither Mitch Lightfoot nor K.J. Adams did much aside from Adams’s strong defense on the final possession of the game.
Ochai Agbaji had trouble scoring with the tight defense Oklahoma was applying. He forced quite a few bad shots, hurting his efficiency and thus his value. Dejuan Harris was okay at times, but his weakness handling the ball in the final seconds almost cost KU the game. As a PG, he has to be stronger with his team ahead in the final moments. Coleman-Lands and Yesufu did next to nothing in their limited minutes.
The team score of +0.16 places their performance right on the bubble-line. It was the team’s worst performance since Kentucky and worst conference game since the 1-point win against Iowa State at home.
The four non-post starters played 39, 38, 38, and 37 minutes. The reserve guards played less than 8 minutes, while D-Mac/Lightfoot/Adams/Clemence split 40 minutes at the 5. Using the adjusted HHI formula, this was KU’s most concentrated lineup of the season (0.781). Self tends to sub quite a bit less in close games, but his rotations Saturday were extreme.
Jalen Wilson had his best over-all performance Monday night against Texas, earning his third team-MVP of the season
Game Summary:
In a disappointing result, Kansas gave up a four-point lead with a minute to play to lose 79-76. Texas scored the final 7 points to send the Jayhawks home with their second conference loss. The game was a high-scoring affair considering how good Texas’s defense has been this season.
Jalen Wilson earns team MVP honors for a value score of over +10 points. He scored and rebounded well, while giving up only 9 points in nearly 32 minutes of play. Joseph Yesufu also had his best game of the season, pouring in 8 points and an assist with efficient numbers. He gave up 5 points in 15 minutes, which is right on the pace of an average defender. This was Yesufu’s first time to outscore his man since the Missouri game. The game seems to be coming back to him, which can only help this team.
Other positives included Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun. Och played fine with constant attention, he continued to defend and rebound. Braun had a nice game going until the last 3:30, missing 2 FT’s and allowing his man a tip-in and then a midrange jumper during UT’s 9-4 closing stretch.
Dejuan Harris did not have a great game, but he still distributed it well enough (5 assists) to show a serviceable value number. David McCormack’s solid offensive game (1.29 PPPaf, 16 points, 3 off rebounds) was erased with a dreadful defensive game (21 points allowed). Texas continued to attack him by having his man set high ball-screens. He was slow rotating back on numerous occasions. He did give up the late banked-in 3, a lucky shot but one that was possible due to slow rotation.
The other reserves were not value-adding in their limited minutes of play. K.J. Adams showed poor post defense. Mitch Lightfoot was the same. Bobby Pettiford had a disastrous turnover which led to a late 3 to end the first half.
The TEAM score of +6.80 is below the season average (+9.91), but still within the realm of respectability. KU played well enough to win were it not for a run of poor play and bad luck down the stretch. The performance was good enough to win most nights, just not against a Top 20 team on the road.
Agbaji came back from a one-game absence to post his 9th team-MVP of the season
Game Summary:
All 10 of KU’s rotation players posted positive value against Baylor. This is the first time to my knowledge that this has happened over the course of 15+ seasons. KU got great efforts from everyone.
Leading the pack was Ochai Agbaji, who finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds. He didn’t produce as much on offense as Christian Braun (18 points) did, but had the better defensive game. Mitch Lightfoot went 4-4 from the floor, added 7 rebounds, and only gave up 3 points on defense.
Jalen Coleman-Lands finished with 8 points in 11 minutes with solid defense. Dejuan Harris posted a very good score despite only scoring 2 points. He dished 7 assists and only gave up 3 points on defense over 28+ minutes of play. Jalen Wilson added 15 points and 4 assists, although his defense wasn’t good. David McCormack hit the glass to account for 8 rebounds, which was the bulk of his value considering he scored and allowed nearly the same amount.
Joe Yesufu and K.J. Adams are barely on the plus side, but Yesufu had a nice shot for 3 and played well on defense. Adams didn’t score but posted positive value because he played solid defense against a good team.
Both walk-ons had poor outings.
At +29.30, this was the team’s best game of the season. If KU had this type of performance against a bubble-team on a neutral site, it would expect to win by ~29.3 points.
D-Mac and Harris carried Kansas, as each had his best game of the season on a night where neither Ochai Agbaji nor Remy Martin were available. McCormack was great, 7-7 FG’s and 14 points with 14 rebounds. He also played solid defense, although this was partially due to a good matchup. Harris’s night was his best offensive game of his career, he added value not only from scoring but also from 9 assists.
Jalen Wilson bounced back from a rough first half to finish with a positive score. Only giving up 8 points in 36 minutes shows how far his perimeter defense has come. Joseph Yesufu also had a positive game in 22 minutes of play, and his score is somewhat affected downward by his matchup. Iowa State is perimeter-oriented on the offense, meaning he was at risk for giving up more points than say, McCormack. Still, going forward if he continues to play well expect him to produce some positive minutes.
Everyone else had negative-value games. Bobby Pettiford didn’t play much. Jalen Coleman-Lands began the game with a few nice jumpers, but gave up some baskets on the other end as well as failed to get back in transition at times. Mitch Lightfoot wasn’t effective in his few minutes. Christian Braun missed a few shots he could have made, and also had some bad luck in giving up 3 of ISU’s 5 threes. Braun has been slumping of late, but looks like he could break out at any time. K.J. Adams had the worst game of his season, giving up the other 2 ISU threes in limited minutes. But as said earlier with Yesufu, more minutes will even out matchups and tough shots by opponents. For the year, K.J. has been a positive contributor who adds an element that other 5-men don’t have.
The team score of +14.82 is Kansas’s best game since West Virginia and the second-best of the calendar year of 10 games. To do so without Agbaji and Martin shows the team has depth and toughness.
KU’s playing time distribution was the most concentrated its been all year, meaning KU relied heavily on a few players instead of spreading the minutes to a number of players. The five starters plus Yesufu played all but 18 minutes. The HHI score was 0.751, which is well-above the season average of 0.643. This isn’t too surprising considering KU was without two key players.
Kentucky used a hot-shooting first half to cruise to an 18-point win. Kansas could never recover from the large first-half deficit it found itself in. It lost the battle of the boards (41-29) and second chance points (17-6); other than that the game was a more respectable margin.
Mitch Lightfoot earned his first game MVP of the season, battling on the boards and winning three additional defensive possessions by forcing a non-steal turnover. He did a far better job of guarding Kentucky’s center than David McCormack did. Bobby Pettiford played solid defense and even added a late basket in his 10 minutes of work. Dejuan Harris was also respectable. Remy Martin and Jalen Coleman-Lands finished slightly positive in limited minutes off the bench.
On the other side of the value ledger, starting wings Christian Braun and Ochai Agbaji had slightly negative value games Saturday night. Neither shot great. K.J. Adams had a tough defensive game at times, but did finish two assisted baskets. Joseph Yesufu had a couple missed shots, a turnover, and a rebound in his few minutes of play.
These players combined were about -2 points unadjusted, meaning that these players cumulatively played well enough to only be down 2 points to Kentucky. Thus the reason for the blowout was largely due to the poor play of the next two players, Jalen Wilson and especially David McCormack.
Wilson had a poor shooting game, whereas his counterpart 4 man (Brooks) had a career-high 27. Wilson did grab 8 rebounds, but it was his second-worst game of the season once adjusted for opponent. David McCormack was outplayed by Kentucky’s center (Tshiebwe), as he gave up 16 points in only 15 minutes of court time. It was McCormack’s second-worst game of the season, and his second very poor game in a row.
In closing, no one played great for Kansas, but the reason for the blowout loss was primarily due to the 4 and 5 positions. Both were constantly out of position on defense, and didn’t make enough plays to recover.
Mitch Lightfoot competed well against Kentucky, earning him team-MVP honors.
Ochai Agbaji’s career high of 37 points was matched by solid defense.
Game Summary:
For the second consecutive game, Ochai Agbaji had the best game of his career. Finishing with 37 points, Ochai only gave up 9 points on defense, a stout number in 46+ minutes of play. Agbaji also grabbed 7 defensive boards, including a few clutch ones in double-OT. Remy Martin had the second best game of any Jayhawk. Despite scoring only 4 points, Martin only gave up 2 points, and produced additional value with 6 assists and 3 forced-turnovers. His energy really sparked the Jayhawks, and hopefully there is more to come.
Coleman-Lands didn’t play a ton, but he was solid in his nearly 5 minutes of play. He made a jump shot while not giving up points on defense. Christian Braun and Jalen Wilson, in 48+ and 47+ minutes each, had slightly positive contributions overall. Both had nice plays toward the end of the second OT, sealing the win for the Hawks.
K.J. Adams has the most misleading score, as he was guarding Tech’s Bryson Williams for most of the time he played. Adams gave up 9 points (3 off a banked in jump shot), but scored 6 of his own to go with 6 rebounds and 0 misses/turnovers. Unlucky defense will even itself out over the course of a 35 game schedule, and Adams showed he is capable of playing at this level moving forward.
Mitch Lightfoot was in foul trouble for much of the night, and ended up giving 9 points while only scoring 4. He’s had better outings for sure. David McCormack had his second-worst performance of the season, partially due to Bryson Williams playing outstanding. Still, whenever Tech needed a pop-out 3 they did so going against McCormack. Big Dave also failed to collect important defensive rebounds in crucial times.
Last, Dejuan Harris had a poor outing on both ends. He has produced 4 consecutive negative games since hitting the game-winning shot vs. Iowa St., his worst performance being against Texas Tech.
The team’s score of +5.62 was about 4 points below expectation, as you’d want KU to win a bit more comfortably than they did. KU built up a 12 point lead with about 6 minutes to play, and it was still 8 before Tech won a few offensive rebounds off missed free throws and converted to cut the lead to 4. Personnel questions were also abundant; KU seemed to struggle once Martin came out for good with 5:04 left in regulation. The final 15:04 were played by Harris as the sole ball-handling guard, and KU was -5 in that stretch.
Jalen Wilson and Christian Braun led the Jayhawks to their fourth conference win with efficient offense and solid defense. Kansas also got positive contributions from Mitch Lightfoot and David McCormack, and Ochai Agbaji came back from a poor first half and wrist injury to make big plays down the stretch. KU’s small guards each had poor showings. Remy Martin did not play well in his return, and Dejuan Harris was outplayed by Oklahoma’s guards for most of the night. Yesufu gave up a bucket in his 2 minutes of game action. K.J. Adams posted a negative value game for the first time since Missouri.
The team’s score of +8.33 is slightly below their season-average (12th best of 17 games so far), yet was still good enough to get a win.
Jalen Wilson earned his second team-MVP honors with his 16-point performance in Norman.
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Charting the Hawks 