Why Bill Self sees a ‘challenge’ — but also a ‘benefit’ — facing Arizona in Big 12 tourney
To defeat Arizona for the second time in six days, Kansas men’s basketball might need a repeat performance on defense against the Wildcats’ dandy guard duo of Caleb Love and Jaden Bradley.
“Watching Arizona play, that’s a pretty physically gifted group, especially on the perimeter,” KU coach Bill Self said of the Wildcats (20-11, 14-6 Big 12 regular season), who after losing to the Jayhawks (21-11, 11-9) 83-76 on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse, gear up for a rematch in a Big 12 quarterfinal contest Thursday at T-Mobile Center (8:30 p.m.).
“They’ve got some guards that are built like men and can get downhill,” Self added.
Love, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound fifth-year senior from St. Louis and formerly the University of North Carolina, scored 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting while playing all 40 minutes in Saturday’s narrow loss to KU.
The player who missed a possible overtime-inducing 3 against KU in UNC’s 72-69 loss in the 2022 NCAA title game was 2-of-4 from 3 and 4-of-4 from the line Saturday. Known as a high-volume shooter, he had three assists, two turnovers and two blocked shots Saturday vs. KU.
Meanwhile, Bradley, a 6-3, 200-pound junior from Rochester, New York, and formerly the University of Alabama, scored 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting Saturday. He didn’t attempt a 3, but was 7-of-7 from the line with two assists, two turnovers and a steal in 38 minutes.
It’s especially important to keep the duo off the free throw line. Love is 93-of-106 for 87.7% and Bradley 94-of-112 for 83.9%.
While Love and Bradley accounted for 37 of the Wildcats’ points, the duo wasn’t able to overcome the performance of KU big man Hunter Dickinson, who exploded for 33 points on 15-of-23 shooting in 34 minutes.
Dickinson, who scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Wednesday in KU’s 98-94 overtime win over UCF, also grabbed 10 rebounds against Arizona. Dickinson knocked down three 3s in four tries versus UCF.
Fellow seniors Zeke Mayo, KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris also had outstanding games vs. Arizona on Senior Night. Mayo went for 20 points, Adams 12 points and eight rebounds and Harris nine points and nine assists.
“They played great,” Bradley said of the Jayhawks after the game. “Big Hunter and Adams and their guards, they hit big-time shots at big-time moments. Going forward, we’ve got to see what we can do to adjust.”
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said of Dickinson: “At some point with a guy like him you’ve got to pick and choose what you’re living with. He did a great job. He had his touch going around the basket. It seems like this year he’s had some games where those balls have just kind of rolled off the rim and it’s hurt them, but (Saturday) they all kind of went in.”
KU coach Self has challenged Dickinson to “carry” the Jayhawks on his back during the postseason.
“That was a big game he had the other night and I thought there were a couple of things that we did. We got the ball to him more closer to the block on a cleared side, which was beneficial to us,” Self said. “The guys have actually done a decent job of that of late, but I actually believe that against Arizona, what did he make? Fifteen baskets and I’ll bet eight of them may have been away from the basket. So he shot the ball better obviously, but still yet you’ve got to get easy baskets and he probably scored 14 points within two or three feet. And we’re going to have to get him touches down there.”
Asked late Wednesday night about playing Arizona again, Self said: “It’s going to be a challenge because they’ve got really good guys and they’ve got a really good team. The benefit is, when we get back (to hotel) at midnight and have dinner at 12:30 a.m. and then get up tomorrow morning, the benefit is from a preparation standpoint they’re going to be more familiar with it than what we normally would be. So I think that’s the benefit, if anything.”
Self added: “I actually thought on Saturday we had four seniors play very, very, very well and it was barely enough. It’s going to take a great energy-type game. We’re going to have to play big, obviously, and we’ve got to be able to guard the ball probably better than we did on Saturday. I thought Saturday was a really good basketball game that was well played by both teams. It could have gone either way. We just made probably a couple more plays down the stretch.”
He continued.
“The biggest thing for me and I think our guys is that was a great effort by us,” Self said. “It was barely enough, so we gotta bring at least that plus tomorrow.”
The winner of the KU-Arizona game (Arizona is a 1.5-point favorite) will play either Baylor or Texas Tech in the semis on Friday.
