Kansas Basketball: 3 keys to beat Duke in 2019 Champions Classic
1. The Jayhawks must get the ball inside to Azubuike early and often
This one is relatively straightforward.
Udoka Azubuike was having a very good start to his season last year when a torn ligament in his right hand sidelined him for the team’s final 27 games. Despite the small sample size, his numbers were carrying over well from the 2017-18 campaign: 13 points, seven rebounds, and two “stocks” (steals and blocks) per game. Had he kept on this pace, a second-straight All-Big XII nod would have surely been within reach—not to mention the effect that his presence would have made for the team as a whole.
The Nigerian-born big man returns for the 2019-20 season as the key to this Jayhawks squad. Devon Dotson is a fantastic point guard and a popular early pick for All-American honors, and Ochai Agbaji was a pleasant revelation in Lawrence after Bill Self pulled his redshirt midseason.
Both of them should take steps forward this season, but the play of Azubuike will be the true bellwether. He is the only player on the roster who approached Dedric Lawson’s usage numbers last season, hitting a huge 30% rate in his nine games. For reference, neither Dotson nor Agbaji eclipsed the 20% mark.
So, while Big Doke can certainly be expected to eat throughout the season, that feast needs to begin from the very first tip-off.
Duke will likely rely mostly on Vernon Carey and Javin DeLaurier to try to keep Azubuike at bay. Carey can be an effective help defender and will accumulate some nice block numbers as guards try to attack inside. But will he be able to effectively stop one of the best big men in the nation? If he gets the jitters in his first game, it could turn into a real problem. DeLaurier is a defense-first big, but Duke may have issues playing him for significant stretches if his offense doesn’t come along.
The last note here is that Bill Self should be careful with his frontcourt pairings. While many Jayhawks fans may be salivating at the thought of Azubuike and Silvio de Sousa playing side-by-side, they largely occupy the same role. For either of them to be effective, they need space to operate down low and that real estate will be hard to come by with two big bodies jockeying for position down there.
David McCormack, a skilled passer who can step out and hit mid-range shots, seems like a much better partner for Azubuike. Self can also rely on small-ball lineups, sending Doke out with Dotson, Agbaji, Isaiah Moss, and Marcus Garrett, for example. But he should resist the temptation to roll out a Twin Towers lineup if he wants Azubuike and de Sousa to be at their best.
While the offense will need to run through the big man, the Jayhawks will also need to force Duke away from their strengths and into their biggest team weakness: three-point shooting.