KU seeks strong defensive effort Saturday at Oklahoma State: ‘We’ve got to lock in.’
After surrendering a season-high 91 points in a 29-point loss to Texas Tech last Saturday in Lubbock, Kansas allowed 49 points — its second-lowest total of the 2018-19 campaign — in a 15-point victory over Kansas State on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse.
The disparity on defense might be explained via Xs and Os — KU altered its ball-screen defense against the Wildcats. Or it could be rationalized by the simple difference between playing top-notch opponents at home versus the road.
KU’s defense has yielded an average of 65.3 points per game in eight Big 12 home games compared to 75.0 points in seven conference road contests heading into Saturday’s 11 a.m. clash at Oklahoma State.
“Historically our defense has traveled. With this particular team it has not,” KU coach Bill Self said. He’s hoping the urgency of the situation — KU (21-7, 10-5) enters Saturday’s game tied with Baylor (10-5), one game behind Kansas State (11-4) and Texas Tech (11-4) and a game ahead of Iowa State (9-6) in the league standings — will lead to a suffocating defensive performance versus the Cowboys (10-18, 3-12).
KU is 2-5 on the road and 8-0 at home in league play this season.
“Energy,” Self said of what’s needed to produce a strong defensive effort on the road. “When your defense is not great, it puts pressure on your offense to be a little bit better. We are not going to be a terrific offensive team this year. We are not going to be be,” added Self, whose Jayhawks have averaged 76.5 points in league home games and 67.3 points in road contests.
“You look at things we do well and that we can control. We can control more things on the defensive end than we can the offensive end, whereas last year we could control more things on the offensive end. I think Texas Tech and K-State would probably say the same thing. They are probably better on the defensive end.
“The way you can think about that, would you rather be one up and they have the ball or one down and we have the ball (at end of game)? I’d say every team we’ve ever had here would say, ‘Put us on defense.’ I don’t know this team has bought into that yet. When it does, we’ll continue to improve on that end.”
The fact KU excelled on defense at home Monday does not necessarily foreshadow anything that might happen in Saturday’s matchup. KU held West Virginia to 53 points in a 78-53 victory on Feb. 16 at Allen Fieldhouse before allowing 91 in the next game at Texas Tech.
“I’d say we’ve got to lock in on defense,” said KU junior forward Mitch Lightfoot. “We have to understand it has to start on that end. You can’t lose if the opponent doesn’t score. We’ve got to lock up on defense and take this energy we are feeling now to Stillwater.”
After Saturday, KU returns to Lawrence before heading back to Oklahoma for a Tuesday night game against the Sooners in Norman.
KU needs a sweep of the Oklahoma schools not only to continue its quest for a 15th straight league title, but to match its worst league road record in the 16-year Self era.
KU went 4-5 on the road en route to winning the league title during the 2014-15 season. That’s the only other year KU has been sub-.500 in league road games under Self. Overall, KU has a 91-43 record on the road in conference games the past 16 seasons.
“We’ve got to lock in on the road. We’ve been struggling there,” noted freshman guard Ochai Agbaji. “We’ve got to find a way to focus in.”
Noted freshman Devon Dotson: “We just have to find a mode and find what it takes for us to lock in, get defensive stops and carry that on the road, improve on that. I thought we played well at Baylor (73-68 win on Jan. 12). We need it to carry over every game.”
KU, which has lost four of the last five games in Stillwater, defeated the Cowboys 84-72 on Feb. 9 at Allen Fieldhouse.
Forward Dedric Lawson scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the second half as KU broke open a game that was tied at halftime. Freshman guard Agbaji hit five three pointers and scored 23 points. Dotson scored 18 points, while Lightfoot added six points, nine rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes.
Four Cowboys scored in double figures. Cameron McGriff had 22 points and six boards, Isaac Likekele 14 points with six assists, Lindy Waters 13 points and Thomas Dziagwa 11 points. Yor Anei, a 6-10, 255-pound freshman out of Lee’s Summit West High School, contributed eight points with three rebounds and three blocks.
“Our team should be good enough to compete against anybody. We expect them to,” Self said, addressing the big picture entering the final three games of the regular season. “It’s been an interesting year from an adversity standpoint. Through adversity you can get better. I’m not the least bit discouraged where we are at. I’m probably a little more realistic. My expectations of our team is we win every game, but the reality is our margin of error has shrunk so much (without Udoka Azubuike, Silvio De Sousa, Lagerald Vick) that if we are not really on point — and you play somebody really good who is on point — it makes it a really hard game. I’m realistic about that, but nothing changes as far as the final result. We expect to win.”
Lightfoot is optimistic the Jayhawks’ road fortunes will improve. They’ll have to improve if KU is to at least claim a share of the league crown.
“I think we will take the next step,” Lightfoot said. “The next step is going through practice, getting ready for Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Every team in the Big 12 presents a challenge. We understand that. We have to take our show on the road, go down to Stillwater and get one.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 2:16 PM.
