This Kansas Basketball team has been doubted by many recently including many who picked them to lose this game. The Jayhawks came to play in this blowout win over Northeastern.
The Kansas Jayhawks came into this game without some of the typical pressures they play with, in the NCAA Tournament. Of course, whenever you play for the Kansas basketball program and are a top-four seed their will be pressure but it’s nothing that they couldn’t handle after the season they went through. They were dominant in this game as they would go on to win 87-53.
They came into this game needing to defend the three-point line and that’s exactly what they did. Kansas held Northeastern to just 21% shooting from three-point range despite them being 39% on the season. The Huskies were so focused on their perimeter game which led to the Jayhawks being able to dominate inside.
Kansas outrebounded Northeastern in this game 45-27 and they also outscored them in the paint 50-16. It was a team effort in those areas but the play of their star Dedric Lawson was a big part of that. This is a team that is very reliant on Lawson and he delivered in a big way.
In this game, Lawson finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds as he was very effective on both ends of the floor. He did a great job defensively hedging screens and switching onto shooters when needed. He also was able to dominate on the offensive end in a variety of ways as he went 9-16 from the field, including 3-5 from three-point range.
For as good as Lawson was it is the play of the other guys who will determine how far this team advances and they were key in turning this game into a blowout. Dedric’s brother, KJ Lawson, had a really good game off the bench with 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.
The freshman guards on this team are going to be instrumental to them having success in the NCAA Tournament. In this game, two of them played well, while Quentin Grimes really struggled. His only three points were off a single three-point make which has been the story for him much of the season, he will need to be better on Saturday if they want to win.
The other two freshman guards had big days. Ochai Agbaji didn’t fill up the stat sheet but he had multiple offensive putbacks which is something he needs to do when his shot isn’t falling. Devon Dotson was so quick getting up the floor and he looked like a star during this game. March is when stars are born and maybe Dotson could be that guy for this Kansas team.
For a team that struggles to score at times in the halfcourt, he can get to the basket extremely well in transition and even just a few buckets like that can go along ways towards winning. In this game, he finished with 18 points on 6-12 shooting. His ability to defend the opposing teams’ guards is extremely underrated and he was a big reason the Northeastern guards struggled the way they did.
It was an impressive game for Kansas and they should be proud, but next up is a much tougher test with Auburn. The Tigers survived a scare down the stretch against New Mexico State so they will come out more focused especially if the game is close down the stretch.
It will be an exciting matchup between two team’s who have really struggled with consistency issues. Kansas will need to play with the same focus they did against Northeastern and if they can defend the three-point line the way they did in this game, then they have a really good chance to advance to the Sweet 16.
*Sports Illustrated Realtime Brackets is the first bracket game that lets college basketball fans switch their picks, in exchange for points, between and during live tournament games to keep their brackets alive all month long. Sign up now!