Kansas Basketball: 3 takeaways from thrilling win over Creighton Bluejays

Tale of the halves for David McCormack

If you exclude the 17-point performance against D-II program Washburn, it hasn’t been the greatest start to the season for junior center David McCormack. Despite the perceived weaknesses in the frontcourt, the big man hasn’t delivered up to expectations. He’s yet to score in double figures against a D-1 opponent and played in a season-low 13 minutes in the close call to North Dakota State.

It looked as if that would be the fate for him against a smaller Creighton team whose forwards could exploit him on the defensive end. That’s what happened in the second play of the game, with McCormack giving up an easy layup inside off a screen. However, he had his best offensive performance overall, using his size advantage down low to score 12 points in the first half.

The way he did was simply by getting position as close to the basketball as possible. Those were things he didn’t do much in the first few games, as he was looking for more mid-range jumpers and a variation of floaters and hook shots that were of higher difficulty. That’s what McCormack was doing in the second half, floating away from the basket on offense.

He was limited to just one second-half point and 13 overall, along with seven rebounds in a season-high 28 minutes. His lone assist though did lead to the game-winning three-pointer by Wilson, so he did have the second-biggest impact on the game.

It’s clear that McCormack won’t be the next Udoka Azubuike and he’ll have to continue developing throughout the season. Yet as successful as the small-ball lineups have been so far for Kansas, they’ll need a true center to get by the best teams in the country come March Madness. It may be frustrating at times, but believing in the junior center is the right thing to do.