Three Thoughts on Kansas’ 73-59 Loss to Marquette
The Kansas Jayhawks lost to the Marquette Golden Eagles, 73-59, in the Maui Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Tuesday.
The No. 1 Jayhawks (4-1) will probably lose its No. 1 ranking next week after the loss. Kevin McCullar Jr. saw his two-game streak of triple-doubles end, but he still led Kansas with 24 points and added eight rebounds. Center Hunter Dickinson had his first “average” game as a Jayhawk, scoring 13 points and eight rebounds. Kansas will play Tennessee in the third-place game on Wednesday.
The No. 4 Golden Eagles (5-0) will play No. 2 Purdue on the Maui Classic championship game on Wednesday. Oso Ighodaro led the Golden Eagles with 21 points and nine rebounds. Chase Ross scored 12 points and Kam Jones added 10 points.
Here are three thoughts on the game.
The Template In Full
Last week against Kansas it was clear that Kentucky’s overall speed gave Kansas issues in the first half. But, the Jayhawks adjusted in the second half and, with Kentucky’s lack of interior height, they were able to adjust and win the game on the back of Hunter Dickinson’s double-double.
Well, Marquette has the same overall speed of Kentucky, and perhaps the Golden Eagles are quicker. But they played defense better than Kentucky and that, combined with a pace of play that matched Kansas’, put the Jayhawks in a bind all night.
If you watched the game, what you saw is what speed and high-level defense can do to even the best of teams. It speeds them up. It makes them make horrible decisions with the ball. Kansas probably won’t commit more turnovers in a game this season than the 18 they did on Tuesday, and Marquette turned that into 20 points.
Because of the speed and defense, Kansas had trouble creating offense all night. In fact, the Jayhawks had issues getting into offensive sets a good portion of the night. Then, at one point in the second half, Marquette had some fun. Coach Shaka Smart called a timeout, put his team in a three-quarter court 3-2 zone and forced a turnover.
Marquette discombobulated Kansas’ game plan. Worse, Kansas didn’t have an answer or an adjustment that worked. Worst, Kansas didn’t play good enough defense to slow down Marquette, which would have helped make it a game.
Finally, the Golden Eagles made Dickinson irrelevant for the first time this season.
Everyone in the Big 12 is going to watch this tape like it’s the Zapruder film. Kansas coach Bill Self needs to treat this like it’s an opportunity for adjustment.
Is This The Real Kevin McCullar?
McCullar had an incredible game — and this came after back-to-back triple-doubles, as he became the first Kansas player and the seventh player in college basketball history to do it.
When McCullar transferred from Texas Tech to Kansas two offseasons ago, he cited his offensive development as one of the reasons. He had already done a cycle in the NBA Draft process and that was the biggest feedback. He did it again this past summer and he got the same feedback.
Based on his first five games, it looks like something has changed in his game. He’s a better shooter, especially for outside. He’s driving more. He’s showing more offensive assertiveness.
It’s the same thing NBA teams asked of Ochai Agbaji two years ago and of Jalen Wilson last year. Both responded. Could McCullar be the next in line?
He’s playing like it. But sustaining this level of offensive effort for a whole college season is something McCullar has never done before. It will be intriguing to see if he can do it. If he can, his draft stock goes way up — and Kansas will benefit.
The Dust-Up Play-By-Play
Late in the first half we got a treat — offsetting technical fouls on the Kansas coach and the Marquette coach.
In the play-by-play it’s listed as “Kansas coach” and “Marquette coach.” But if you watched the game you know they were probably on Kansas’ Bill Self and Marquette’s Shaka Smart.
It happened after a play in which Dickinson and Ighodaro tangled under the basket and Dickinson fell to the floor.
At first viewers got the long shot of what appeared to be both benches clearing. But it wasn’t clear that players were involved. When the game came back from break, viewers got a better picture.
A close-up shot showed Smart clearly unamused by whatever happened and shouting across the court, to the point where a player and a coach had to pull him back. The cutaway back to Self didn’t show him doing that much, but he clearly did enough to get a tech.
Something didn’t set well with Self because you could see him say “unbelievable” twice once the officials had assessed the techs and talked with Self and Smart.
But, then after the half, we got an even clearer picture. While the Dickinson-Ighodaro stuff was going on, McCullar hit a 3-pointer and appeared to say something to Smart. It wasn’t clear what was said but Smart clearly reacted to it. And then hijinxs ensued.
So, should players be trash talking with coaches? No. Should the coach be the more mature person in that situation? Absolutely.
If you watched the end of the game and you saw the handshake between Smart and McCullar, then you know there was no hard feelings afterward. After all, they’ve known each other a while now, since Smart used to be the coach at Texas.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
