The key to KU’s big run against Washburn, and why it poses an interesting dilemma
Brett Ballard is the perfect person to discuss this.
The Washburn basketball coach played at Kansas, has been on coach Bill Self’s staff in the past and works less than 30 minutes down the road. He joked on the radio pregame show that he had to convince his kids to cheer for Washburn on Thursday night; after all, they usually wear a KU shirt to school at least once each week.
So Ballard knows KU as well as any opposing coach will. And he understands, perhaps better than anyone, what led to KU pulling away in a 79-52 exhibition victory Thursday night.
“I do think 4 around 1,” Ballard said, “is tough to guard.”
For a half, Ballard’s team played the defensive scouting report well. KU is transitioning to a primary three-out, two-in offense this year, and Ballard planned to counter that by telling his guys to swarm the Jayhawks’ interior players.
It worked, as KU had 11 turnovers in the first half before a Washburn second-half run cut the Jayhawks’ lead to 35-28.
“I think when you go two bigs, at times, you can scheme to that just a little bit easier because you can pack the paint,” Ballard said. “That’s going to work if they’re not calling a lot of fouls.”
It was then, though, Self called an offensive audible, going back to KU’s “four game,” four-guard weave offense with Dedric Lawson playing as a small-ball 4.
And Washburn didn’t have much of a chance after that.
From the first play after Self took a timeout, KU’s offensive fluidity returned. Charlie Moore drove the lane and threw a lob up for Udoka Azubuike, who finished with an alley-oop and foul.
A few possessions later, Azubuike drew a crowd inside, then found Lagerald Vick on the perimeter for an open three.
Just after that, an Azubuike perimeter screen forced a slow rotation, freeing up Dedric Lawson on the wing.
The threes piled up, while the turnovers disappeared. KU went on a 33-5 run over an eight-minute span, displaying its best offensive stretch of the preseason.
“You have to decide what you want to do on ball screens, and they put you in a jam on ball screens. That’s where we got hung up,” Ballard said. “We were hedging for awhile ... and then they started popping their bigs (outside).”
It all brings up an interesting situation for Self as his team prepares to face No. 10 Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Tuesday.
Without question, some of the KU’s best players are in the frontcourt. Self is blessed with depth there he hasn’t had in the past, meaning an ideal world would have the Jayhawks executing some of his successful two-big-man sets from the past.
Yet ... the time for tinkering is over for the time being. Because of the non-conference schedule KU has put together — the toughest of any Power Five school, according to Bart Torvik’s advanced metrics — Self will probably have to ride the hot hand with his four game offense, especially if it gives the Jayhawks their best chance at offensive success in the opener.
Perhaps we should have seen this coming. KU, after all, has a lot of experience returning, and those guys have been running four game repeatedly in practice the last two years.
“When we got in sync, everybody was finding each other, driving and more aggressive,” guard Ochai Agbaji said.
“Having someone like Dedric on the perimeter, he can come off the ball screens and make a play,” guard Marcus Garrett said. “That makes us even better.”
“I think what it was ... we made shots,” Dedric Lawson said. “When Doke rolled, he freed us up when he made baskets. They had to help on Doke, and guys like me and Lagerald made shots.”
Is relying heavily on this offense a long-term solution? Probably not. Ballard even mentioned this in the postgame, believing KU will clean up its two-big look sooner rather than later.
But Tuesday probably won’t be the best time for growing pains. KU will be in the national spotlight during one of college basketball’s premier events, looking to give a strong first impression as the top-ranked team.
In other words ... if the weave is KU’s best option, expect a lot of it against Michigan State.
“We didn’t do a great job (defensively) of scrambling out of it,” Ballard said. “But it’s definitely tough to guard.”
Jesse Newell
Jesse Newell covers University of Kansas athletics for The Star.
