Kansas Basketball: Three keys for the Jayhawks to avoid a first round upset
By Shaun Gordon
2. Shoot Well from Deep
Kansas is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. They shoot 40.3% from deep, which puts them just outside the Top-10 in the country.
When they’re hitting their three-point shots, the Jayhawks are unstoppable. Literally.
In the Jayhawks’ seven losses this season, they’ve shot worse than 37% from deep every time, including:
- 25% against Washington
- 23% against Texas Tech
- 31% against Oklahoma
- 19% against Baylor
Kansas boasts three starters that shoot above 40% from beyond the arc, led by Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk’s 45.3% clip. He’s more likely to hit a three than anyone else is to pronounce his name correctly.
On the flip side, Penn is second-best in the country at three-point defense, sitting only behind Grand Canyon. They hold opponents to just over 29% shooting from deep.
This is one of those hypothetical situations between the unstoppable force and the immovable object. It’s the elite three-point shooters against the equally elite three-point defenders.
The only real chance the Quakers have of shocking the world comes from keeping the Jayhawks cold from beyond the arc. It would hold the high-powered Kansas offense in check, turning this into a defensive battle.
And as mentioned before, defensive battles aren’t the type of games that favor the Jayhawks.