How KU’s defense suffocated BYU ... and what it means for the future
Devon Dotson raised his arms — palms up — urging Kansas fans to get louder and louder.
It was midway through the second half of KU’s 71-56 victory over BYU in the Maui Invitational, and the moment stood out because of what Dotson was celebrating.
This didn’t come after a dunk or three-pointer ... but instead, following a forced shot-clock violation against BYU.
For the first time in a while, KU’s players seemed to enjoy completely taking another team out of what it wanted to do offensively.
Someone else liked it a lot too: KU coach Bill Self.
“That was fun for me to watch from a defensive standpoint,” Self said.
Perhaps faster than anyone would’ve guessed, the defensive pieces appear to be coming together for KU, with the Jayhawks showing that potential Tuesday while stifling a BYU offense that entered top 50 in adjusted efficiency.
To be fair, some of this was a bad shooting night for the Cougars. To increase the chances of an upset, coach Mark Pope’s team likely chose to fire up a bunch of threes, and making only 9 of 33 (27%) can mostly be chalked up to an unlucky night.
KU’s defense still deserves credit in many other ways, starting with the fact that it forced a typically ball-secure team to give it away on 29% of its possessions.
“They make it really hard for an offense to run their stuff,” BYU forward Dalton Nixon said.
“They’re all super-athletic, long,” added teammate Kolby Lee. “We knew that coming in.”
It’s still hard to simulate the kind of length Self can throw out there.
The Jayhawks rank 15th in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted height measure, and that’s not something to ignore; Pomeroy found a few years ago that for every extra inch a team has in the stat, its adjusted defensive efficiency improves by 3.2 points per 100 possessions.
It’s not difficult to understand why. Extra height and wingspan mean that passing lanes aren’t quite as open, with an increased number of deflections only further discouraging teams from trying to find teammates.
Pope described it this way: There were times Tuesday when BYU’s roll man was open off a ball screen, but the Cougars guards too often couldn’t find their teammates because of KU’s size and defensive activity.
“I think the frustration for us mounted when we probably didn’t handle that as well as we would like to in the second half,” Pope said. “But credit Kansas for that. They can guard.”
This is all ahead of schedule for KU. Remember, Self implemented a major shift in defensive philosophy this offseason, choosing to “down” ball screens in an effort to keep opposing ballhandlers away from the middle of the floor.
The transition has been nearly seamless. Nixon, Lee and Pope all individually credited KU for “keeping you on one side of the floor” — a short-hand way of saying the Jayhawks were effective in their new “down” coverage.
KU has quickly raised its defensive stock in the advanced stats world. The Jayhawks are up to fifth nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, with the potential to go higher as they become more comfortable with their changed technique.
Three-pointers will always be a concern for KU’s defense. Many opponents — like BYU — will continue to take their chances out there, and while the Jayhawks’ foes have made only 27% of their threes so far, that number is sure to go up as the season continues.
There’s still so much to be encouraged about for KU defensively. The Jayhawks are tall. They have guards who can slide to cut off driving lanes. They have a feared rim protector in the back and also the potential to become a dominant rebounding team.
Quietly, Self has been in a bit of a defensive slump — for him — the last three seasons. KU finished 24th, 47th and 17th in adjusted defensive efficiency the last three years, and that was after the Jayhawks had ranked 11th or better in the stat in 10 of the previous 11 campaigns.
This easily could be a return to KU’s defensive glory days, as the Jayhawks did more than just smother BYU on Tuesday.
They did so with a formula that appears to be repeatable.
This story was originally published November 27, 2019 at 1:38 AM.
