Kansas’ Bill Self hoping for ‘All-American’ production from senior Perry Ellis

The stats, the black-and white numbers, say Kansas forward Perry Ellis is having a solid senior season. He is scoring 14.3 points per game. Grabbing 5.9 rebounds per contest. He has just eight turnovers in 235 minutes.

The advanced metrics say Ellis has been Kansas’ third most efficient offensive player, behind junior guard Wayne Selden — who is shooting 60 percent from three-point range — and junior guard Frank Mason, who might be the program’s most indispensable player. The Jayhawks, you might know, are also 8-1 after winning seven straight games.

But in the days before No. 2 Kansas was to take the floor against Montana at 1 p.m. Saturday inside Allen Fieldhouse, while the Jayhawks were off a week for final exams, KU coach Bill Self dusted off an old talking point.

Ellis, Self says, is leaving him wanting more.

“We need him to play bigger,” Self said on Thursday. “And I’m not being negative.”

As he spoke about Ellis, Self sought to place his critique in the right context. Self believes Ellis can be an All-American and he is viewing him through this lens. The Jayhawks, meanwhile, have struggled to find consistent low-post scoring, and Self believes that Ellis can be an antidote to this malady.

“This isn’t being negative and this isn't putting any pressure on anybody, because it’s factual,” Self said. “You’re not putting pressure on somebody if you tell somebody you think they’re good.

“I think Perry Ellis is capable of playing to an All-American type level. I think he is. So what does an All-American type level play to? Well, he can't do it at his size unless he’s ultra aggressive.”

One could view this as a head coach trying to spur a star player to another level, and that wouldn’t be wrong. But Self has other reasons to lean on Ellis for more production. For the second straight year, the KU frontcourt has struggled to produce offense in the paint. As a team, the Jayhawks are shooting 52.3 percent inside the three-point line and 61 percent at the rim. The former number is below the standards of most of Self’s teams; the latter is well below national averages. After Ellis, the Jayhawks’ most productive inside scorer has been freshman Cheick Diallo, who is averaging 7.8 points while playing just 48 minutes in four games.

The reasons, of course, are simple. For the second straight season, the Jayhawks lack a true back-to-the-basket scoring threat. Self remains hopeful that Diallo will harness his raw offensive game over the next three months. But from an offensive standpoint, Diallo remains a work in progress. In other words, the Jayhawks may have to survive with what they have — which includes one of the nation’s best outside shooting attacks.

The one answer, Self says, could be Ellis, the 6-foot-8 forward who possesses the ability to score from multiple spots on the floor.

“I almost feel like we have to do something to try to get a big guy in there to play with his back to the basket,” Self said. “You know, it’s great that you have five guys that can all make jump shots, but we need to have one guy that can make a basket in tight — that you can throw it to and can get fouled, too.”

To be that guy on a consistent basis, Self says, Ellis will need to take another step. This is where Self’s latest comments come in.

“I think that he is a guy that can play at such a high level, and that’s what excites me about our team,” Self said. “We haven’t been great, but we’ve done OK. But I still don’t think we’ve seen the best of what we can (be), because he’s so important to our team.

“He is the one guy that can make something out of nothing when you throw it to him. All good teams have that, and I think that he’ll get that. He’s just been in a little bit of a funk the last couple of weeks.”

For the moment, Self is still weighing potential combinations and rotations in the frontcourt. The process is fluid. In a victory over Oregon State last Saturday, senior forward Hunter Mickelson started alongside Ellis for the second straight game. Self used just three post players — freshman Carlton Bragg came off the bench — for most of the second half.

Self remains unsure about the roles of reserve big men Jamari Traylor and Landen Lucas. And Diallo adds another intriguing piece. The crowded frontcourt has manifested into more competition during practice.

“If you’ve got as many big guys as we have, you know everybody wants to play,” Mickelson said. “So there’s definitely going to be competition. That’s just going to be natural.”

For most of December, though, Self has been clear about this: The KU staff, he says, needs to identify the best complementary players for Ellis, the one mainstay in the frontcourt. This is still true, but it appears Self has begun to look at the situation in a different light. Maybe the best complement for Ellis doesn’t always have to be a big man who can rebound and protect the floor. Maybe the best complement will sometimes be another big that can stretch the floor, allowing Ellis room to maneuver around the paint on offense. Maybe the best complement can help unlock Ellis, too.

“He’s more than capable of playing at an All-American type level,” Self said. “If that’s too much pressure, then that’s too much pressure. That’s why he came back to school. So to downplay that we don’t want him to be that — I don’t think is speaking truthfully at all because we want him to be that. We need him to be that.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Kansas’ Bill Self hoping for ‘All-American’ production from senior Perry Ellis."