Will KJ Adams miss time for Kansas after shoulder injury? Bill Self talks KU-Iowa State
Iowa State’s basketball fans apparently saw no reason to storm the court after the No. 2-ranked Cyclones’ lopsided 74-57 victory over No. 9 Kansas on Wednesday night at sold-out Hilton Coliseum.
The 14,267 fans — on hand for a game in which ISU was favored by 5 1/2 points — stayed in their seats after the final horn sounded. The Cyclones were led 25 points from guard Curtis Jones and 17 from center Dishon Jackson.
There was little drama in a game in which visiting KU (12-4, 3-2) was outrebounded by 10, committed 17 turnovers to the Cyclones’ 13, bricked 7 of 11 free-throw attempts and knocked down just five 3s in 16 attempts to ISU’s 8-of-13.
“I don’t want to spin this negatively. It wasn’t a lack of effort,” KU coach Bill Self said after the Jayhawks, who trailed 40-30 at halftime, dropped their third consecutive game at Hilton. ISU, which stretched its homecourt win streak to 28 games, improved to 15-1, 5-0.
“It was a lack of really understanding and respecting how competitive you had to be (in order to be) successful in this game. Iowa State has a good team and has talented guys. What makes them really who they are is I bet they get 75% of every 50/50 ball. If the ball is in the air they seem to get it,” Self added.
This leads to perhaps the most depressing aspect of the game from a KU standpoint.
KJ Adams, the senior forward who Self cited as being “the most competitive guy in the game as much as anybody,” suffered a shoulder injury in the second half.
His status is unknown heading into Saturday’s home game against Kansas State.
“He hurt his shoulder. I don’t know how significant it is or how much time he’ll miss. He obviously couldn’t go there when he came back in (the game),” Self said. “I hope it’s not significant. Hopefully he will not miss time. I think we will be very lucky if that’s the case.”
Adams had four points and six rebounds in 19 minutes when he hurt his shoulder playing defense with 15:46 left and KU down 42-37.
He was immediately taken to the locker room to be checked out. He returned to the KU bench with 12:47 to play and reentered the game. He played four more minutes before leaving the game again, this time not to return. Adams finished with four points, four assists, two steals and six rebounds.
“The first half he had his hands on every ball. We didn’t have anything to show for it,” Self said of KU converting on few opportunities on a night it hit 40.7% of its shots.
Self discussed the effort his team displayed during his postgame media session.
“We tried hard. There is a difference between trying hard and actually competing,” Self said. “I thought in the first half five or six balls on offensive rebounds could have been our balls. Guys still tried. Try is the baseline. Everybody fricking tries. You don’t get a ribbon for trying. That’s what we were lacking (competing) as much as anything tonight.”
KU guard Zeke Mayo, who was KU’s only double-digit scorer (17 points on 7-of-19 shooting) said: “We weren’t good on defense at all. They got whatever they wanted the entire game. We had good stretches. Obviously we came back (trailing by three points the second half after being down as many as 12). Our effort definitely wasn’t there tonight. They outrebounded us, forced a lot of turnovers on our side. There’s a lot of areas we need to improve.”
Hunter Dickinson finished with six points on 3-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds in 29 minutes.
“I’ve got to be better,” Dickinson said. “When we are laboring offensively, I’ve got to help my teammates out and give them a pressure release.”
Of Dickinson’s off night, Self said: “The biggest thing they did is pressured so hard on the perimeter the only person who could catch it easy was a 5-man. Take the 5-man away from the basket to relieve pressure, he will not score as many points. The other thing, to do a good job we tried to feed the post from the wing or high slot multiple times on the first side. They way they play … they trap from under. That was not a good design by us to try to do that.
“We wanted to get the ball to the second, third side as quick as we could. I think the way they guarded us is a way would limit Hunter’s good touches a lot because the guards forced him to be on the perimeter to be a pressure release.”
Tipoff for Saturday’s KU-K-State game is 12 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.
