Kansas Basketball: Josh Jackson’s subtle defensive brilliance
The Kansas basketball team has struggled on defense this year, but freshman Josh Jackson might be able to save them.
Following Kansas’ 90-88, buzzer-beating win over in-state rival Kansas State on Tuesday, Bill Self was rather frank about his team’s defense, telling reporters that this was without question the worst defensive team he’s had at Kansas.
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To be fair, he might have a point. Kansas’ defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) of 95.6 ranks 78th in the country. That doesn’t seem overwhelmingly bad when you consider they ranked 71st in defensive rating two seasons ago, and outside of the top 100 during the 2013-14 season.
What does seem overwhelmingly bad, though, is that in the three games following starting center Udoka Azubuike’s season-ending wrist injury, the team is allowing opposing offenses to shoot 50 percent from two-point territory. Previously, that number was below 40 percent. The three games since have come against UNLV, TCU, and the aforementioned Kansas State. Better opponents than non-conference cakewalks like UMKC, but not exactly world-beaters.
Even some of Self’s worst defensive teams were pretty strong on defense inside the arc. The 2013-14 team allowed a field goal percentage of 44 percent from there. That number ranked 45th in the country that season.
Despite these lackluster results, it seems that Kansas still has the tools to be a solid defensive team. After all, they were top 30 in defensive rating last season. All they lost from the starting five was Perry Ellis, not exactly a paint protector, and Wayne Selden Jr., who was a good perimeter defender, but not someone you fret losing.
The one person who can single-handedly take Kansas from a mediocre defense to a good one is freshman sensation Josh Jackson. We already know about the scoring, we already know about the passing, and we certainly already know about the dunking.
But what a lot of people might not know about Jackson is his defense is excellent. The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjark’s had an interesting note about that in his article earlier this week:
"In the last five years, there have been nine NCAA wing players taken in the top 10 of the NBA draft who are at least 6-foot-6, and none of them blocked shots and stole the ball at a rate anywhere near what Jackson has done in his first two months at Kansas."
Granted, that’s a limited pool of guys that Tjark’s is picking from, but what Jackson’s doing remains impressive. Of Kansas’ seven rotation players (Frank Mason III, Devonte’ Graham, Svi Mykhailiuk, Jackson, Landen Lucas, Carlton Bragg Jr., and Lagerald Vick), Jackson leads them all in steal percentage and block percentage. That’s unheard of. Not to mention his defensive rating of 92.5 is also first among those guys.
What might separate Jackson from other wings that block shots is in the type of blocks he gets. He’s more than just an athletic guy that racks up chase down blocks. He can be a legitimate rim protector if he’s found in the right spot defensively:
Jackson’s verticality there is particularly impressive. That’s a move that so many NBA centers are still trying to perfect, yet Jackson does it so well as a 6’8″, 19 year-old. And here he is recovering on a missed switch. He comes all the way from the three-point line to notch another block:
After watching two months of Jackson’s impressive defensive instincts and blocked shots, I’m intrigued. If Kansas continues to struggle defensively without Azubuike, is it in the realm of possibility that Bill Self might position Jackson defensively so that he can protect the rim?
The issue with that strategy is that Jackson might be Kansas’ best perimeter defender as well. He can guard four positions, and reads passing lanes as well as anybody:
I don’t think letting Jackson protect the rim is the easy fix to Kansas’ defense, but rather, a last ditch Hail Mary. As previously mentioned, the Jayhawks built a top 30 defense last season without a shot-blocker inside.
So, the solution might simply be Mason and Graham finding their form from last season again. Plus, Lucas has looked like an even better version of his previous self, at least since Azubuike’s injury. He contested a lot of shots at the rim last season.
It’s also worth mentioning that Azubuike only played 13 minutes per game anyway. I don’t think him being injured is entirely to blame for this diminishing defense. Maybe it’s just a midseason slump.
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Regardless of what’s going on with Kansas, we all need to appreciate the subtle brilliance of Josh Jackson’s defense. It’s not something seen often in college basketball.