Lineup remains a mystery as slumping KU basketball prepares for home game versus TCU
Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self says he’s continuing to ponder possible changes in the starting lineup in direct response to the Jayhawks’ three-game losing streak.
No final decision, however, has been made regarding a potential switch in the group of David McCormack, Christian Braun, Marcus Garrett, Ochai Agbaji and Jalen Wilson.
Those five have started 13 of the team’s 15 games heading into Thursday’s Big 12 matchup between the No. 15-ranked Jayhawks (10-5, 4-4) and unranked Horned Frogs (9-5, 2-4). Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse and the broadcast will stream on ESPN+.
“There’s a group, a core group of eight that we could basically go with from a starting standpoint. I don’t know exactly how we’ll change it or positively if we will,” Self, KU’s 18th-year coach, said Wednesday in a Zoom call with reporters.
He didn’t name names but the core group of eight figures to include the five above-mentioned players plus Dajuan Harris, Tristan Enaruna and Mitch Lightfoot with Tyon Grant-Foster possibly the ninth in the mix for minutes for now.
“We switched up teams (at practice since Saturday’s loss at Oklahoma which followed losses to Baylor and Oklahoma State) and tried some different things. The bottom line is those eight need to play. We’ve got to find a way to distribute those minutes probably a little bit more evenly than what we have and maybe cut down some minutes on a couple guys,” Self added.
Self said after the 75-68 loss at Oklahoma he figured it might be time to “shake it up” after the Jayhawks fell to .500 in league play after eight games.
Self — his teams have lost three in a row twice before (2012-13 and 2004-05) in his 18 seasons at KU — said if he does switch the opening lineup it’d be with defense in mind.
“If we are going to mix it up, it has to go toward defense. Guys we would be mixing it up with would be defenders more than offensive guys coming off the bench,” Self said. “I think that’s the way my mind may go if we do do that. That being said I’d like to see everybody pay attention to detail and guard better in transition and halfcourt defense.
“I do think there’s a chance some things we do need to be rattled to maybe get everyone’s attention. I hope that is not the case. I know guys are putting in effort and focus and those things. I do think the fact everybody has an understanding that you are not going to get by maybe as much as we have in the past regardless of how you are playing offensively if we are are deficient on the defensive end (will help team).”
Self said practice since the OU game “hasn’t been bad. It’s actually been pretty good.”
Senior point guard Marcus Garrett would agree.
“We came in with a different mindset, wanting to get better and wanting to win games. We’ve been communicating great lately,” Garrett said, indicating the Jayhawks have held players-only meetings since the OU contest. He did not go into detail regarding such meetings.
Garrett said the squad has come up with a new motto.
“We are starting a new season,” Garrett said. “After that three-game losing streak we all came together. It’s a new season. If we win this game, it would be big for us.”
KU has already played, and defeated TCU, once this season. The Jayhawks, who were without point guard Garrett, who had concussion symptoms, upended the Horned Frogs, 93-64, on Jan. 5 in Fort Worth, Texas.
McCormack had 20 points and eight rebounds, while Agbaji scored 19 points, Wilson 16, Enaruna 12 and Braun 10. Charles O’Bannon had 18 points and RJ Nembhard 14 for TCU.
The Horned Frogs have played and lost (to Baylor and Oklahoma) two straight games since the KU game. TCU has had its last two games postponed because of COVID-19 protocols and has not played a game since Jan. 12.
Coach Jamie Dixon told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he’s questionable for the KU game having been in quarantine after testing positive on Jan. 18. Only four TCU players have been able to practice together; the rest of the players participating only in individual workouts of late.
However, the Star-Telegram reported TCU, which like KU has lost three in a row, is expected to meet the threshold of six players needed to play the game.
“We’ll become better through this. We will,” Self said Monday on his weekly Hawk Talk radio show, referring to his squad’s own three-game skid. No KU team in the Self era has dropped four in a row. “It’ll be the way we become a team. If we are going to become a team, now is when we’re going to do it. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen moving forward.”
Self said freshman guard Bryce Thompson, who had surgery to repair a broken index finger on his right hand on Jan. 14, continues to rehab the finger and has not started shooting the basketball yet.
Self said he hoped Thompson could return to action with about two weeks left in the regular season.
“The way the schedule is now, the season is over the end of February (Feb. 27 versus Baylor). We hope to have him back a couple weeks prior to then,” Self said.
