Kansas Basketball: 3 Keys to victory against Auburn in Round of 32
By Chris Kern
Dominate The Paint
Kansas was able to dominate inside against Northeastern as they outscored the Huskies in the paint 50-16. They don’t need to win the battle like that, but they have a clear advantage inside and they need to use that to their advantage.
A large part of that was the play of Dedric Lawson, who has established himself as one of the best players in all of college basketball. In this game, he finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds as he impacted the game in so many different ways. He went 9-16 from the field including 3-5 from three-point range.
Lawson was impacting the game inside and outside of the paint, but a big reason they were so successful inside was the way they were able to attack the basket. Many different players were able to drive to the rim at will, especially in the second half. Marcus Garrett had big games earlier in the season when he was able to get to the basket so it was good to see him do so a few times in this game.
For Kansas to succeed against Auburn it will be much tougher than it was on Thursday. Northeastern is a good basketball team but they didn’t play very well and their best isn’t anywhere near Auburn’s best. The Tigers don’t have a lot of size inside, but they do have the athletes that will make it tough on the Jayhawks.
The Tigers have guys such as Chuma Okeke and Anfernee McLemore who could spend some time defending the Kansas bigs. They will have some mismatches on the offensive end themselves, but defensively Kansas should be able to exploit them. Dedric Lawson was too much for Northeastern, and he should be too much for Auburn.
The way they drove the ball will be needed on Saturday. If they’re able to get to the basket then three-point shots will open up and Lawson should be able to get some one-on-one opportunities inside. Whenever Auburn doesn’t double team him, they should feed him every single time.