Kansas basketball needs a big win over Monmouth
Kansas basketball will face off against Monmouth this Friday, and the Jayhawks need a big win.
Kansas basketball beat UNC Greensboro last week 74-62 after dropping the season opener to Duke in Madison Square Garden.
The 12 point victory over the Spartans was solid, considering UNCG was picked second in their conference and received a couple of first-place votes. The Spartans won their conference in 2018 and took Gonzaga to the wire in the NCAA Tournament losing by only four points.
Still, the Jayhawks need a dominating win.
Maybe not even dominating, but things still haven’t quite “clicked” yet for this Kansas team. Yes, it’s early in the season, but the Jayhawks are a top-five team in the country, and let’s face it: it’s a national championship or bust kind of season.
This roster is full of talent, and Kansas basketball has to be thinking big this season. With sanctions and the possibility of a postseason ban looming in the near future, the Jayhawks have to make the most of their current opportunity.
That’s why getting this team established and playing as well as it can as soon as possible is so important. It’s true that peaking in March is a good thing, but that doesn’t mean a team can’t play good basketball all year long and go into March with a lot of confidence.
March is a long way away though (109 days as of today). Right now, the Jayhawks have to worry about Monmouth, and how they’re going to finetune for the rapidly approaching Maui Invitational.
Despite looking better last week against UNCG, the Kansas offense isn’t perfected yet. The infusion of Isaiah Moss was exciting though, and his contribution from behind the three-point line cannot be understated for this team.
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Other than being a threat to score points, Moss also helps with spacing. He forces the defense to spread out, and that creates opportunities for Devon Dotson and Udoka Azubuike. While the offense will always run through Dotson and Azubuike, Moss’ contributions cannot be understated, and we only saw him for a few minutes against the Spartans.
The big loss for Kansas last week against UNCG was Jalen Wilson, who will likely redshirt this season due to breaking his left ankle less than a minute into his time in the game. Wilson underwent surgery yesterday and is expected to miss three or more months.
It’s a terrible situation for the freshman, and he has Jayhawk Nation behind him as he recovers and hopefully makes a return to the court sooner rather than later.
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Kansas basketball needs to “click” vs. Monmouth, specifically on offense. Frankly, Monmouth isn’t very good, and if the Jayhawks have trouble on offense against the Hawks, it may be cause for concern among Kansas basketball fans.
Yes, it’s extremely early in the season, but it’s never too early to play good basketball. The game is this Friday, November 15 at 7:00 PM.