Jayhawks’ offense clicks at Oklahoma State: ‘We have to play that way,’ Bill Self says
In its five-game winning streak preceding a much-anticipated home game against No. 5-ranked Kansas, Oklahoma State’s men’s basketball team had held opponents to 63.6 points per game on 38.9% shooting from the field and 28.2% from three.
Those stingy stats made KU’s offensive production in an 87-76 victory over the Cowboys on Tuesday night before the biggest crowd of the season (11,165) at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma look especially impressive.
KU shredded the league’s second-best defense (64.3 points allowed per game) for 87 points — the Jayhawks’ third-highest scoring total in a Big 12 game this season.
The Jayhawks dished 26 assists (most for KU in a Big 12 game this season; KU had 24 versus Missouri) to OSU’s nine. KU hit 53.8% of its shots and went 8-of-22 from three for 36.4%.
The 26 assists were the most registered by Kansas in a conference game since March 2, 2013 versus West Virginia (29) and the most on the road in a conference game since totaling 26 assists on Feb. 11, 2002 at Texas (OT game). It was also the most in a conference game on the road in regulation since Feb. 4, 2002 at Kansas State (26).
“It wasn’t very good,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said of the Cowboys’ defense. “Our defense didn’t have the bite today it has had most of the season save for a few games here and there. A lot of the 50/50 balls I feel like we didn’t come up with. We didn’t finish plays all the time with defensive rebounds. I just think we didn’t have the right kind of resistance that we’ve been (having). I feel like when they needed a basket they got kind of what they wanted.
“We weren’t as crisp, weren’t as connected defensively as we’re capable of being and that cost us the game. Against a team like that with the championship pedigree they have, they take advantage when you are not as good as you are supposed to be.”
KU, which improved to 21-5 overall 9-4 in the Big 12 (OSU dropped to 16-10, 7-6), also looked fluid offensively for a majority of Saturday’s 78-55 road rout of Oklahoma.
KU freshman guard Gradey Dick led the Jayhawks on Tuesday by scoring a career-high 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting. The 6-foot-8 Wichita native was 4-of-9 from three.
“I think it was a little difficult (to guard him) but he got a lot on kickouts,” said former KU guard Bryce Thompson, who now starts for the Cowboys. Thompson scored 17 points, 14 the first half.
“On second-chance points, second-chance rebounds, he was there.,” Thompson added. “We are all in the paint, they get the rebound, kick it out and he has a wide open step-in three. If we eliminate those then it makes it a little harder because those shots allow him to get in rhythm and let the next one be smoother. We have to make him work for it instead of catch and shoot. I think that would have helped.”
OSU guard John-Michael Wright, who hit six threes (in 10 tries) and scored 18 points, said KU’s Dick is “a guy that knows how to move off the ball. You’ve got to always be on your toes with him. You can’t be lackadaisical. As soon as he sees that, he knows how to read the defense well. He’s a good player. He has size. Going against a guy that tall and agile (who) can shoot the way he can, it’s a tough matchup. Credit to him, credit to their team helping him get good looks in the game. We’ll see them again down the road.”
Wright said the Cowboys “didn’t follow our game plan as well as we needed to and it hurt us in the long run. We were just trading baskets with them, and a team like that, you can’t win like that. We understand that now, but we just weren’t ourselves defensively tonight.
”That’s something we gotta look in the mirror and adjust to at practice.”
KU had five players score eight or more points. Guard Kevin McCullar and forward KJ Adams had 15 points apiece, while Jalen Wilson had 14 and Joseph Yesufu tallied eight.
“Offensively that’s as well as we’ve executed over a period of time especially out of our building,” KU coach Bill Self said, applauding the offensive execution before a loud crowd on the road. “Oklahoma State is a terrific team. We couldn’t guard Bryce and Boone the first half (forward Kalib Boone had 16 points the initial half; 27 for the game). I think they are really good. I thought we’d have to be really good to have a chance to win.”
Of KU’s offense, Self noted: “We played better at OU, too. “It looked good to me when the ball moved and we shared it. We have to play that way. We don’t have great one-on-one players. We need ball and body movement. When the ball moves like that I think we have enough scorers out there we’re hard to guard.”
Freshman Dick, who scored eight points in the win Saturday at OU, entered with just one double-digit scoring game in the last four contests.
“He had a huge game,” McCullar said of Dick. “Everybody’s face-guarding him, putting their best defender on him. We’re trying to make it easier for him, getting him open shots. When Gradey gets open he’s going to knock ‘em down.”
KU will next meet Baylor at 3 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. KU, Baylor and Texas share first place in the conference at 9-4 with five games left to play.
This story was originally published February 15, 2023 at 7:23 PM.
