KU Jayhawks to face Mike Anderson’s Red Storm: ‘They sprinkle in different presses’
Mike Anderson has long embraced an uptempo style of basketball taught to him by Hall of Famer Nolan Richardson, his coach at the University of Tulsa and later his boss at Arkansas.
“I think … I know they’ll press. Mike always presses and they’ll get after us,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. He was speaking in advance of Friday’s nonconference clash between the No. 8-ranked Jayhawks (5-1) and Anderson’s unranked St. John’s Red Storm (5-1).
Tipoff for the game, which is part of the “Big East-Big 12 Battle” — a series of 10 games matching teams from the two leagues — is 6 p.m. Central time at UBS Arena, home of the NHL’s New York Islanders, in Elmont, New York.
“We’ve got to be able to handle pressure probably moreso than any game we’ve played this year,” stated 19th-year KU coach Self, whose KU teams have played against squads coached by Anderson 11 times.
Self’s Jayhawks went 9-1 against Anderson’s Missouri Tigers during Anderson’s five seasons (2006-07 to 2010-11) in Columbia, . Also, KU beat Anderson’s UAB Blazers, 100-74, in a 2004 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 contest in St. Louis.
“They play a little bit like Mike’s teams played at Missouri in that they’ll press but I don’t think they are pressing quite as much as they did at Missouri,” said Self.
“They sprinkle in different presses. They can come hot. They can come 2-2-1. They play a halfcourt 1-3-1. They play a matchup zone, a 2-3 and of course they play man. For a team that has to look at them and say, ‘OK they are in in this defense so we need to back it out and and run this offense,’ they’ll have great success if people attack them that way. We’ve got to find a way to attack them where we just flow into it no matter what they are in (where) we don’t think and just play.”
Anderson’s Red Storm average a robust 87.3 points a game to opponents’ 69.8 ppg. KU, meanwhile, averages 83.8 points per contest and allows 68.5.
In 11 head-to-head matchups KU has outscored Anderson’s teams an average of 83.8 points to 69.6.
“That’s one thing we did do a good job of, handling pressure and taking care of the ball,” Self said of KU’s play in going 2-1 at the recent eight-team ESPN Events Invitational over Thanksgiving week. “Against North Texas (71-59 win) we jacked around and had 15 turnovers (just seven in loss to Dayton and nine in win vs. Iona).
“A lot of them (against Iona) were careless. It was like, ’What are we doing?’’’ Self added of turnovers.
KU this season has committed 60 turnovers total. That’s just 10.0 per game against 102 assists or 17.0 assists per contest.
“They are 5-1 like us,” Self said of the Red Storm, a team led by junior guard/forward Julian Champagnie and sophomore guard Posh Alexander, who average 21.3 and 14.6 points a game respectively. Senior guard Montez Mathis contributes 11.0 points and senior guard Stef Smith 10.0 points per contest.
“The guy putting up the biggest numbers, he’s a pro,” Self said of Champagnie, a 6-8 junior from Brooklyn, New York. “I believe he declared (for 2021 NBA Draft). He had a chance to stay in (draft) and ended up coming back which was probably a good decision. He can play in the league,” Self added.
St. John’s, picked to finish fourth in the 11-team Big East, has lost at Indiana (76-74) and at home defeated Mississippi Valley State (119-81), St. Peter’s (91-70), Farleigh Dickinson (87-74), St. Francis Brooklyn (76-70) and NJIT (77-68, OT).
“They are off to a good start,” Self said. “The one loss they had was to Indiana. Mike has done a good job. They have a good team. It will be a hard game.
“It’ll be a great venue. It’ll be exciting. I’m sure there will be a good crowd there as well.”
KU will return home after the game to meet UTEP at 7 p.m. Tuesday at T-Mobile Center in KC. Then it’s KU-Missouri set for a 2:15 p.m. tip on Dec. 11 at Allen Fieldhouse.
This story was originally published December 2, 2021 at 10:19 AM.
