Kansas basketball: Stats indicate a close Sunflower Showdown
By Stan Unruh
The Kansas basketball team will host round one of this season’s Sunflower Showdown Saturday. The Jayhawks cannot look past the Wildcats.
The Sunflower Showdown will open at Allen Fieldhouse again this season. Most Kansas basketball fans remember the Jayhawks escaped with a 2-point victory in Lawrence last season thanks to Svi Mykhailiuk’s last second, fast break layup. The Jayhawks had more talent, more experience and should have run away with a win. As a matter of fact, Mykhailiuk may have run away with the final shot.
There is no reason to have that happen this season. On other hand, Kansas State will be up for the game. They won’t have injured starting point guard Kamau Stokes but they are playing well. They are actually much better than the Jayhawks in several statistical categories.
Bruce Weber’s team is among the Big 12 leaders in turnover margin at +4. That is twice as good as Hall of Fame coach Bill Self’s team. Kansas State also has the 4th best scoring defense in the conference at 65-points a game. The Jayhawks average 70.
The ‘Cats have made 238 free throws to just 161 for the Jayhawks. Both teams shoot just over 70 percent from the charity stripe. We’ve seen Kansas improve in getting to the line significantly over the past two games. They will need to do that again Saturday.
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The Jayhawks are much better than Kansas State in many other stats. Those include scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, rebounding margin, assists to turnover ratio and the in the won-loss column. The ‘Cats are just a game back of KU in the conference standings.
Despite all of the obvious Kansas advantages, the Sunflower Showdown is wild, unpredictable and fun. The Jayhawks are the obvious favorite but this year’s team is difficult to predict. On Tuesday night, the Jayhawks had the chance to put Iowa State away on several occasions. They had to fight to earn a win. Jayhawk fans really don’t want to see that on Saturday.