Big 12 Basketball: Jarrett Culver leads All-NCAA Tournament Team

By Chris Kern | Apr 5, 2019

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 30: Jarrett Culver #23, Matt Mooney #13 and Davide Moretti #25 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders celebrate their victory against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament West Regional at Honda Center on March 30, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

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SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – MARCH 21: Dedric Lawson #1 of the Kansas Jayhawks reacts during the first half against the Northeastern Huskies in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 21, 2019, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Dedric Lawson

The Kansas Jayhawks didn’t advance as far as they would’ve liked, but that didn’t stop Dedric Lawson from filling up the stat sheet in their two games. Their season came to an end in the 75-89 loss against Auburn, but the score really wasn’t that close. The Tigers are playing extremely well and that’s why they advanced to the Final Four.

In the first-round win over Northeastern Lawson was absolutely dominant, especially in the first half as he finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds. He went 9-16 from the field including 3-5 from three-point range. Outside of him the Jayhawks went just 5-17 from three-point range which includes five different players who made one.

Against Auburn, he had a much more difficult time, but he still had some good numbers. He finished that game with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists, but if you watched that game you saw the struggles he went through, especially early on. He did go 8-17 from the field including 2-3 from three-point range which is still a good performance.

Despite how good the stats are in the Auburn game he certainly didn’t play enough early on. A lot of it had to do with the athletes Auburn has in their frontcourt that gave him a lot of issues. Chuma Okeke has dominated all tournament long and he had a good game against Kansas as well. Lawson was able to outrebound these guys, but he wasn’t as successful inside as he needed to be and that’s why Kansas’ season ended in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

You can’t blame him for the loss, but they relied on him so much this season. This wasn’t your typical Kansas basketball team so they needed more out of their star than they typically did. They went through adversity all season and Lawson was about the only consistent offensive threat they had. He had a very good season, but when he struggled even a little it was very tough for them to score enough points to win games against quality teams.

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