Kansas basketball: Jayhawk defense ready for Sooners

The Kansas basketball team travels to Oklahoma for a battle against the Sooners. The Jayhawks are more than ready to face Trae Young.

Kansas basketball fans are excited for this week’s “Game of the year in the Big 12 Conference.” It seems as if the Jayhawks play in the game of year each week. Over the past week, the Jayhawks have out-toughed opponents for huge wins. The victories in Morgantown and the fantastic finish over Baylor moved Bill Self’s guys into the driver’s spot for another conference title. On the other hand, Oklahoma is on a downward spiral. Boomer Sooner lost to K-State and to rival Oklahoma State last week despite a combined 68 points from freshman Trae Young.

ESPN is promoting Tuesday’s game as “Rock Chalk vs Freshman Phenom.”  The network began running the promotional ads Saturday morning. It features Jayhawk, senior leader Devonte Graham following by OU’s freshman point guard Trae Young.  The ad describes the matchup with “this is what you call championship DNA and of course “Sonic Blockbuster,” in reference to the sponsor.

In addition to Graham, the ad includes highlights of Svi Mykhailiuk on a breakaway dunk, Udokah Azubuike on a rim rocking slam dunk, Malik Newman shouting to the crowd and an animated version of Mitch Lightfoot screaming from the Jayhawk bench. The longer version also show Hall of Fame coach Bill Self with an angry stare as he paces the sideline.

They way this is being promoted, the Jayhawks only need to stop Young to win. As a matter of fact, the ad doesn’t show any of the other OU players or coach Lon Kruger. We all know the Sooners are more than just the Sooner freshman star. However, the other Sooners did little on Saturday in the loss to the Cowboys.  None of Young’s teammates scored more than 8 points.

Jayhawk defense will slow down Sooners

With that in mind, if the Jayhawks can slow Young down it will go a long way to getting another Big 12 road victory. Last week, KSU held Young to just 20 points on 8-21 shooting. He also missed 8 of his 10 shots from beyond the arc. Against the Cowboys, Young missed 25 of 39 shots. His teammates missed 29 shots. The most important stat from those games is that Young committed 19 turnovers in those losses. In addition, during the OU loss at West Virginia, Young committed 8 turnovers.

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I believe Devonte Graham and the Jayhawks can force Young into mistakes too. This will disrupt their game and force other Sooners to make plays. Senior Khadeem Latttin is having a mediocre year. He is averaging just over 7 points a game and six rebounds.  Freshman forward, 6-foot-9 Brady Manek is averaging in double figures and a is better rebounder so far,

this season than the 6-foot-9 Lattin. Udokah Azubuike will match up well with both of them.

Yes, the game is a sonic blockbuster. Kansas basketball fans have seen and heard about the OU freshman star for months. We know how Devonte Graham has silenced the Sooners and their stars in the past. Expect Graham and the Jayhawks to do the same Tuesday.