Kansas Jayhawks basketball’s win vs. Iowa State was big deal. And also a step back
So hey, we can all talk openly here and do so with some nuance, right?
Because Tuesday night was a great overall day for Kansas men’s basketball in one aspect — and an awful one in another.
In a few weeks, most fans won’t think much about KU’s 62-61 home win over Iowa State. Most importantly, the Jayhawks registered a Big 12 win somehow.
And that’s something No. 1 Baylor couldn’t accomplish at home against Texas Tech, meaning KU’s odds of potentially winning a conference title shot up dramatically with a single night’s results.
For coach Bill Self, though, it’ll be tough to walk out of Allen Fieldhouse feeling great.
Right now, his team is discombobulated. It isn’t itself.
That’s the bad news. KU is regressing. Self seems to be searching for rotation answers in mid-January instead of knowing them. At the same time, the Jayhawks appear too often like they’re trying to tread water instead of attacking opponents as they frequently did earlier in the year.
There’s a valid reason, though: Facing a murderer’s row of pressure defenses, the one player desperately needed is someone whose short-term availability has been in question.
“We need Remy (Martin) to get healthy,” Self said during his postgame radio interview afterward. “Let’s just call it like it is.”
Things were so much easier a month ago.
KU was playing mortal defenses in the nonconference. Martin was the engine for the nation’s best transition offense, and the Jayhawks often made scoring look simple with their four-guards-around-one-big setup.
Those days seem long gone ... and the Big 12’s excellence is partly to blame.
According to KenPom’s adjusted efficiency measures, KU played the nation’s fifth-best defense on Saturday in a loss to Texas Tech. Iowa State, which came to Allen Fieldhouse, is fourth.
The Jayhawks finally get a “breather” on Saturday, except it’s not that at all. West Virginia’s defense is only ranked 22nd, which happens to be 14 spots above KU.
Here’s the immediate issue for Self: What Texas Tech does well is what Iowa State thrives with and West Virginia preaches. All three are in the top 15 nationally for creating turnovers.
So those defenses get up on you. They speed you up. They make you panic.
And they test the heck out of your point guards.
It’s a bad time, then, for KU to be without one of its primary weapons there.
“Certainly, we missed Remy — that speed. When you negate your own speed and play against guards like that (from Iowa State), that’s hard to go against,” Self said. “We looked like a slow team because Juan (Dajuan Harris) was the only ball-handler we had. I think we need Remy to get healthy.”
Things looked to be trending in that direction earlier this week. Self said on his postgame radio interview that Martin was doing fine in workouts Monday, then re-aggravated his previous knee injury that he first suffered on Dec. 29.
And though Harris was the hero with the game-winning shot, he wasn’t particularly effective for most of the contest before that.
Part of that’s not his fault. Harris played 37 minutes — a career-high — and those were high-impact, with Iowa State pressing and trapping most of the night.
Bobby Pettiford returned from injury but was wide-eyed facing this type of defense. Joseph Yesufu didn’t play Tuesday after some recent game struggles, though if Martin is out longer, he sure seems like someone that Self needs to turn to again soon.
KU has dodged disaster for now. But to be an actual Final Four contender with a chance to win a national title, it has to start playing better.
This isn’t a vintage Bill Self defense, but that’s fine — like the 2017-18 Final Four team — if the offense can bump against elite levels.
That’s been difficult lately because of all the turnovers. Before Big 12 play, KU’s worst turnover outing was against UTEP, when it gave the ball away on 23% of possessions.
Each of the Jayhawks’ three Big 12 games — against Oklahoma State (24%), Texas Tech (26%) and Iowa State (25%) — have been worse than that previous high-water mark.
KU has a ball security issue. And because of that, the Jayhawks have become worse recently while losing some ground on the nation’s best.
Martin could help fix that quickly ... when he comes back.
There can be no debate about his value to this team now. When Martin’s been favoring his knee or out of games altogether, KU has backslid, becoming a squad that makes easy plays look difficult instead of the other way around.
He and Self haven’t always seen eye to eye. And Martin certainly challenges his new coach, often pushing him out of his comfort zone.
The Big 12 remains merciless, though, and Saturday appears to be another game where KU fans should be paying close attention to pregame warmups.
If Martin plays, the Jayhawks’ season narrative could begin to swing back in the right direction.
And if he doesn’t? They seem likely to activate survivor mode once again.
A suboptimal status when facing defenses of the Big 12.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 11:57 PM.
