Jayhawks knew they had to ‘pick apart’ Eastern Michigan’s zone defense Saturday
Kansas had nine basketball players combine for a season-high 25 assists in the Jayhawks’ 87-63 victory over Eastern Michigan on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
The No. 5-ranked Jayhawks’ previous-best mark was 21 dimes in a season-opening victory over Michigan State.
“That’s so misleading though, because when it’s a zone every possession, you get more shots off of the catch than when you are playing against a man,” Kansas coach Bill Self said after the Jayhawks’ 11th win in 12 games. Eastern Michigan, which totaled just seven assists, fell to 6-7.
“We shared it OK,” Self added.
The Jayhawks — whose 25 assists were most since dishing an identical number against Omaha on Dec. 18, 2017 — did commit a season-high 17 turnovers against Eastern Michigan’s 2-3 zone.
“We knew that this is a zone-playing team and we had to get in the gaps, get it to the high post and at different opportunities pick apart their defense, whether from the outside or inside or a lob,” KU freshman point guard Devon Dotson said after totaling four assists against two turnovers.
“It’s just different ways of playing,” Dotson said, indicating the Jayhawks relished the challenge of trying to penetrate a zone a majority of the game for the first time this season.
Dedric Lawson, a 6-foot-9 junior power forward from Memphis, dished a game-high five assists against one turnover. He has 30 assists in 12 games, second on KU’s team to Dotson’s 37 assists.
“I am very comfortable,” Lawson said, referring to playing against a zone. “It’s something I’ve been playing my whole life in the middle of the zone. This team (EMU) plays a lot of zone. That’s when I get my high assist games — eight or nine assists. I am very comfortable with high/low action,” Lawson said of drifting to the top of the zone and lofting passes into fellow big Udoka Azubuike (23 points, eight dunks).
Self said Lawson, “had four assists in the first half. He should have had more. He didn’t play very well the second half at all. A lot is my fault. In the Big 12 I will not play him (only) 11 minutes in a half when he is not in foul trouble. I wanted to give everybody a chance to play. When you have Doke and Dedric in there together, he (Lawson) has a big guy he can throw it to. it makes him a better passer whenever Doke is in the game.”
Lawson had one assist the second half in 11 minutes. For the game, the first-team All-America candidate scored eight points on 2-of-8 shooting (4 of 4 from line) with four rebounds and one turnover in 22 minutes.
“I feel I kept trying to feed him,” Lawson said of Azubuike. “They started to play the lobs a bit. I should have knocked down some shots to make them come back to guard so I could feed back in.”
Dotson applauded the performance of KU’s bigs Saturday.
Azubuike hit 10 of 13 shots; David McCormack had four points and five boards in 17 minutes; Mitch Lightfoot four points, six boards and two assists in 11 minutes. Guard/forward K.J. Lawson had six points and four boards in 11 minutes and Marcus Garrett who also plays both guard and forward, had one point, four boards and three assists in 18 minutes.
“I thought they did pretty well when they got in there and made a decision, made the right plays, but we can always improve,” Dotson said of the bigs. “But yeah we can definitely improve.”
K.J. Lawson said it’s fun to watch bigs score against zone defenses because of crisp passes.
“Big guys who can pass at a comfortable level would be very high in the zone because really, you’re just picking apart the zone,” K.J. Lawson said.
Of his brother Dedric’s passes, K.J. said: “They kind of made him pass with the zone because you’ve got limited options and have to take the shots that the defense gives you. He was pretty comfortable.”
Self expressed some concerns after the game with Oklahoma coming to town for the Big 12 opener on Wednesday (8 p.m., Allen Fieldhouse). Though freshman guard Quentin Grimes busted a scoring drought with 16 points in 29 minutes, senior Lagerald Vick scored just four points. He was 0-for-5 from three.
“We can’t have him and Dedric having too many nights like they had today,” Self said of Vick and Lawson.
Doubling the post
Self said the Jayhawk defenders needed to practice doubling players and trapping them in the post. So KU implemented that strategy at times against Eastern Michigan’s bigs.
“I didn’t expect them to double team like they did,” said EMU forward James Thompson IV, who scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, but had five of his team’s 16 turnovers. “When they doubled the first time it kind of caught me by surprise. I thought they were just trying to get me off my game, like double me once and stop. But they kept sending them, so it was surprising they did it the whole game. It didn’t really throw me off, but I was shocked,” Thompson added.
Of Azubuike’s play inside, guard Paul Jackson said: “It was somewhat effective of course because he has a big body and is quick on his feet. Pretty much the way they played coming off screens, it was almost like they were trapping, which made it a little more difficult for us to get to the rim. We missed a few layups here and there. He definitely is effective.”
Fan meets team after game
Hattie Long, a 102-year-old KU basketball fan who resides in an assisted living facility in Whitewater, Kan., attended her first game in Allen Fieldhouse. She met with Self and the KU players in the locker room after the game.
“I knew she was coming to the game beforehand. I said, ‘Let’s make sure we meet her after the game,’’’ Self said. “I asked her, ‘How bad were we the second half?’ She said, ‘Second half?’ I guess we weren’t very good the first half either,” Self added, smiling.
“I said, ‘Hattie we played pretty well the first half.’ Someone who has supported KU as long as she has, the first time in the fieldhouse, I’m sure it was a special moment for her. She made it special for all of us, too.”
