Jayhawks hope to limit turnovers during Big Monday battle vs. Iowa State
Bill Self didn’t need to study tape to figure out what went wrong in Kansas’ ugly 77-60 loss to Iowa State on Jan. 5 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
“You go on the road and have 24 turnovers, it’s not going to be pretty,” Self, KU’s 16th-year basketball coach, said matter-of-factly.
Senior Lagerald Vick and junior Dedric Lawson had seven and six turnovers respectively, which combined for one more than Iowa State committed as a team.
KU flat out failed in taking care of the basketball in that lopsided contest.
“That was comical,” Self said on a recent Hawk Talk radio show, referring to KU’s 14 first-half turnovers and 10 second-half bobbles against Iowa State.
“They manhandled us. They looked like the ‘Monstars’ in ‘Space Jam,’” Self added of the aggressive Cyclones, who, according to Self resembled the group of aliens who “stole the talent” of several NBA players including Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Larry Johnson in the 1996 Warner Brothers film.
Those same Cyclones (14-4, 4-2 Big 12) will be in Lawrence on Monday night to face the Jayhawks (15-3, 4-2) for the second time in 16 days. Tipoff for the KU-ISU game is 8 p.m., with a live telecast on ESPN.
ISU, which committed just 12 turnovers in the first game against KU, had six turnovers (to Oklahoma State’s 15) in Saturday’s 72-59 Cyclones victory in Ames.
“That is the thing we know we’ve got to improve on, take care of the ball,” said KU freshman point guard Devon Dotson. He had five turnovers against Iowa State and seven of the Jayhawks’ 18 turnovers in Saturday’s 65-64 loss at West Virginia.
For the season, KU has committed 240 turnovers to 259 for its opponents. In six league games, KU has 86 turnovers, its opponents 82.
“I would say our teams (at KU) historically have never been an unbelievable ball-security type team,” Self said in discussing the issue of turnovers.
“If you look at some of the teams that have the least number of turnovers, it’s often because they want the ball in one person’s hands the vast majority of the time. If you have a point guard like Monte Morris (former Iowa State standout), who was fabulous, he won’t turn it over much. He makes the pass to finish the play. It’s kind of by design.
“We played like that with Aaron (Miles, early in Self’s tenure at KU). I wanted him to make the pass to finish the play. Here in the last several years, we’ve become more of an equal opportunity team as far as everybody handles (the ball). When you do that, a lot of times you put the ball in guys’ hands that maybe are not true point guards and asking them maybe to do some things. You turn it over but it also creates more balance. Guys can get better that way.”
The Jayhawks improved in the immediate aftermath of the first ISU game. KU had a combined 30 turnovers in three games — wins at home over TCU and Texas and at Baylor.
“We’ve been so good at taking care of the ball at times and so poor. It’s inconsistency as much as anything,” Self said. The Jayhawks had a season-low four against Texas.
On Monday, KU will face a guard group that includes Marial Shayok, Tyrese Haliburton, Nick Weiler-Babb, Lindell Wigginton and Talen Horton-Tucker, who combined for 62 points, 16 assists and 12 steals in the first meeting between the teams.
“I was talking to our guys,” Self said. “One of the few things I said that made sense is they (Cyclones) don’t always have McDonald’s All-Americans like some schools. So their guys don’t get the same national publicity going into a season, then by the time they have been at a place for a year or two, they end up being every bit as good as heralded guys that end up going to the respective schools.
“Those guards, Babb, Haliburton, Wigginton, Shayok, those four can play for anybody in the country. They are part of the rotation for the best teams in the country.”
Freshman standout Horton-Tucker dished five assists against KU, while big man Michael Jacobson secured 11 rebounds while scoring nine points.
“Horton-Tucker is a smaller Dedric Lawson in a lot of ways,” Self said. Horton-Tucker is 6-foot-4; Lawson 6-9. “The big kid in the middle (Jacobson) had a great game against us. Their talent level is good and they are young.”
Kansas, Iowa State, Kansas State and Texas Tech each top the league standings with 4-2 records followed by Baylor (3-2). Oklahoma, TCU and Texas are 2-3, while Oklahoma State is 2-4 and and West Virginia 1-5.
Monday’s game could be huge for league championship implications, especially if ISU is able to sweep the season-series vs. KU.
“It’s hard,” Dotson said of Saturday’s road loss in which KU blew a six-point lead in the final 2:30. “But we’ve got a game on Monday — Big Monday against Iowa State. It’s tough to swallow but we’ve got to bounce back Monday. We have to jump right back at it (and) focus.”
Self said: “We’ll be OK. We can’t get it back. You’ve got to put it in the rear view mirror. We’ll be excited to play Iowa State on Monday.”
After that game, KU returns to nonconference play for an SEC/Big 12 Challenge contest at 5 p.m. Saturday at Kentucky.
