Kansas basketball has advantage in Sunflower Showdown
By Stan Unruh
Kansas basketball fans look forward to the annual Sunflower Showdown. Monday night’s game should be one of the best in recent memory.
The Kansas basketball team looked great in the first half Saturday against Texas A&M. The Jayhawks hit big shots and outran the taller Aggies. As a matter of fact, the SEC foe outplayed the Jayhawks for much of the second half. Fortunately, Bill Self’s guys held on for the 11point win.
In Manhattan, Kansas State did just enough to beat a very mediocre Georgia team. The Bulldogs held the Wildcats to just 56 points. The purple team needed a 12-2 run over the final 6 minutes to win their third straight. They will look for revenge Monday for the one point loss at Allen Fieldhouse on January 13.
On Saturday in Lawrence, we saw the Jayhawks play well with a lead. They have rarely done that over the past few weeks. When they get a lead in Monday’s Sunflower showdown, they can’t allow the ‘Cats and their crazy crowd to get back into the game.
The Jayhawk defense may have caught the ‘Cats at a good time. The Wildcats shot just 38 percent on Saturday and just 21 percent from 3 on their home court. In addition, they only found their way to 22 rebounds. They won but could be looking at a slump.
The Jayhawks are hitting big shots, creating offense with their defense and confident. The Aggies outrebounded KU Saturday but the Jayhawks collected 31 boards. Udoka Azubuike had 6 rebounds. Unfortunately, five of those came in the first 14 minutes. He had one rebound the rest of the way. If that happens Monday, the Jayhawks could be in trouble.
I expect Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Devonte Graham to have big games on Monday. Malik Newman is just beginning to show the Big 12 how good he can play. If the Jayhawks get help from Lagerald Vick on both ends of the court and keep Azubuike out of foul trouble, they should sweep the Sunflower Showdown again this season.