Kansas basketball: Stanford preview, how to watch
By Stan Unruh
The Kansas basketball team will face their third Pac 12 team Thursday night. Here is what you need to know for the game against Stanford.
The Kansas basketball team scheduled three Pac 12 teams in three different locations over a period of 15 days. The month of December has been difficult for Hall of Fame coach Bill Self and the Jayhawks. As a matter of fact, the two-game losing streak that included loses to Washington and Arizona State are now a distant memory.
I hope that is the case when the Jayhawks and Cardinal battle in Sacramento. Maybe Frank Mason, one of Sacramento’s newest residents, will have time to stop in to encourage the Jayhawks. He can remind them how to drive to the basket and draw fouls.
Stanford, coached by former Jayhawk standout Jerod Haase, is not a great team. As a matter of fact, we didn’t think the University of Washington was good either. The Cardinal are 6-6 but have won two straight. Those last two victories were over San Francisco and Denver. They’ve lost games to North Carolina, Ohio State, Florida and Long Beach State.
Reed Travis leads the Cardinal in scoring at 22-points a game. The 6-foot-8 forward scored 29-points in their last win. He scored 29 including 19 free throws against the Jayhawks last December. He will be a handful for Udokah Azubuike and whoever Self assigns to stop him. In addition to Travis, 6-foot-9 power forward Michael Humphrey is averages double figures in scoring and is Stanford’s leading rebounder.
Here is where to watch the Jayhawks play the Cardinal Thursday.
Date: December 21
Time: 10p.m. CST
Location: Sacramento
Venue: Golden 1 Center
Television: ESPN2
Streaming: WatchESPN
Listen: Jayhawk Radio Network
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Keys to Victory
The Jayhawks need to get the ball inside to Azubuike and have the defense force some turnovers. Stanford averages almost 17 turnovers a game. If the Jayhawks can score off their defense and stay out of foul trouble, they should finally get a win against the Pac 12 this month.