KU’s Bill Self played his starters late in a blowout. He finally saw what he wanted
The final score ended up fine — Kansas defeated Milwaukee, 95-68, on Tuesday night — but this still wasn’t how KU coach Bill Self wanted the last minutes to go.
With 3:21 left in the second half and his team’s lead trimmed to 17, Self checked Udoka Azubuike back into the game, meaning four starters were on the court again.
This all coming in a contest KU had led by 30 before halftime.
“I just wanted to leave out here with a good taste in our mouth — primarily mine over (my players’),” Self said with a smile. “Because I didn’t think we played very well the second half.”
For Self, the gambit was successful. His Azubuike substitution was part of a 13-2 run to end the game, and also helped spark a KU defense that had struggled after the break.
“We had some mishaps. Kind of dead in the second half,” KU guard Devon Dotson said. “(Coach) wasn’t too pleased.”
More than anything — and uncharacteristically — KU’s biggest defensive issues came when defending inside.
Milwaukee found one particular successful action late, utilizing a step-up screen to help free quick guard Darius Roy off the dribble.
In a two-minute sequence, that one set led to four Milwaukee field goals, which included three paint touches.
Milwaukee coach Pat Baldwin said afterward he figured it’d be tough for his team to score in the post over KU’s big men like Azubuike and David McCormack. Because of that, the plan late was to “pull them out of the paint and drive them a little bit more,” which the Panthers did with success.
“We didn’t do a great job protecting the rim at all,” Self said. “And we got beat too much off the bounce.”
It’s never too late for an adjustment though, right?
Dotson said Milwaukee, in many of those instances, were playing to specifically take advantage of KU’s new defensive style this year of “downing” ball screens. With Dotson often trying to keep the ball-handler toward the sideline, Roy began attacking Azubuke with baseline drives before drawing help.
That was until Self took a timeout with 4:28 left.
“We covered things up and talked about different things,” Dotson said, “and how to figure it out.”
It still wasn’t perfect after the stoppage. McCormack didn’t stay connected well on the next ball screen, which led to an open Te’Jon Lucas jumper and a frustrated Dotson after the play.
So Self went to his bench again. Azubuike replaced McCormack (who had only been in one minute), and he did a better job on three later step-up screens while working to get the ball out of the point guard’s hands.
The effort contributed to three scoreless possessions for Milwaukee.
“That was a good way to end it,” Self said of his team’s late run, “just to have some positive mojo leaving the game.”
Overall, this was an outlier performance for KU. The Jayhawks’ typically strong interior defense allowed 17 two-pointers — a season high — and the Panthers also made 55% of their inside shots with extra help from a motion that worked over and over again.
Self, in this instance, was frustrated enough that he left most of his best players in.
Eventually, the Jayhawks showed more focus. Finally, they found a way to slow down Roy off the dribble.
And perhaps beneficially, they learned how to handle one specific situation that opponents might try to exploit again in the future.
That, if nothing else, had to leave Self feeling good when leaving Allen Fieldhouse — even if the game didn’t end as he envisioned.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 1:42 AM.
