KU’s interior defense among nation’s best over last two months

Kansas forward Jamari Traylor didn’t follow through on his promise.

He told teammate Cheick Diallo that he was going to copy his patented move — a finger wag like former NBA player Dikembe Mutombo — after a block in Saturday’s game against Connecticut.

“I forgot to do it,” Traylor said after a smile after his three-block effort. “Maybe next time, though.”

Even if KU’s celebration was lacking Saturday, its defense certainly wasn’t.

The Jayhawks smothered the Huskies in the first half of a 73-61 victory while holding them to 3-for-21 two-point shooting.

The effort actually was better than the numbers showed. Two UConn first-half shots came at the rim in transition after Frank Mason turnovers. That meant the Huskies mustered only one two-pointer before halftime while running half-court offense.

UConn finished the game 11 for 40 inside the arc (28 percent).

“We really focused on trying to keep them out of the paint,” KU coach Bill Self said.

The team also performed well outside of first-shot defense.

KU dominated the defensive glass, grabbing 36 of UConn’s 41 missed shots. It was the worst offensive rebounding effort — in percentage — for the Huskies all season.

“That’s about as good as we’ve done all year long,” Self said. “We could do a better job on the offensive glass, but I thought our guys really did a great job defensively on the glass.”

It’s been part of a recent resurgence for KU’s defense. In 15 games since the start of February, KU’s opponents have made 40 percent of their two-point shots. To give some context, San Diego State led the nation in two-point defense for the season at 41 percent.

Self says much of the credit for KU’s improvement should go to the players, who have taken additional pride in shutting teams down.

“Every scouting report, ’Mari’s got them all huddled up, and they’re all talking about, ‘Hey, the roll man has got to take the roll man. We have to guard ball screens this way. We can’t be lax,’” Self said. “So they are policing each other more.”

Forward Landen Lucas also admitted the team was fired up early by Traylor’s blocks — even if he didn’t complete them the way Diallo suggested.

“Jamari came in and gave us great energy, and we were talking to each other, communicating,” Lucas said. “That’s how we need to start each game.”

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 8:16 PM with the headline "KU’s interior defense among nation’s best over last two months."