Kansas basketball: One stat stood out in victory over Cyclones
By Stan Unruh
Kansas basketball earned another critical road victory Tuesday. One statistic had a big impact on the final outcome in Ames.
Tuesday’s 83-77 Kansas basketball win in Ames was another nail-biter. Several Jayhawks played a huge role in earning the team’s sixth win in eight road games of this roller coaster ride of a Big 12 season. The victory keeps the Crimson and Blue within one game of the top spot for the conference title.
There were many important reasons the Jayhawks won. A review of the stat sheet shows Bill Self’s guys scored 21 points off turnovers. As a matter of fact, Iowa State only turned the ball over 12 times Tuesday. In January’s meeting between the two teams, the Jayhawks forced 17 Cyclone turnovers and scored just15 points. Scoring off defense Tuesday had a huge impact on the victory.
The Jayhawks also did an outstanding job of taking care of the basketball at Hilton Coliseum. In the Allen Fieldhouse meeting, the ‘Clones scored 11 points on 10 KU turnovers. It was a very different story on Tuesday night. The Crimson and Blue allowed only 4 Cyclone points on 7 Jayhawk turnovers.
The biggest stat in the win involved Udoka Azubuike. The sophomore standout contributed to the win in so many ways. He scored the team’s first 7 points on the way to 19 points. Dok made 9 of his 10 shots and also made his only free throw. His three blocked shots intimidated the ‘Clones.
Azubuike’s biggest contribution came from staying on the basketball court in the second half. The 7-footer has typically been on the bench during the team’s road games this season. Dok played just 19 minutes at Baylor, 18 at K-State, 20 at West Virginia, 22 at Oklahoma and only 13 at TCU. The Jayhawks are a much better team when Dok is on the court.
What Azubuike didn’t do made the difference
He only played 22 minutes Tuesday. However, the majority of those came in the second half after he picked up a third foul just 21 seconds into the final 20-minutes. Fortunately, Dok didn’t get whistled for his 4th foul until the Jayhawks had a 9-point lead with less than 2 minutes remaining. Mitch Lightfoot played well but this team is better when Dok is not on the bench.
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Staying out of foul trouble is difficult for any player as big as Azubuike. Officials can’t help but notice every move he makes. Dok’s 19 points in just 22 minutes were important. His 3 blocked shots and his 3 rebounds came in the final 20 minutes. Just think what this team could do if Dok could play 30-plus minutes a game.