Kansas basketball: Ochai Agbaji looked good in Sunflower Showdown win over Kansas State
Returning home to Lawrence, Kansas basketball found a dominant win over Kansas State in the Sunflower Showdown. Ochai Agbaji found a solid evening, helping secure the 74-51 home win.
Kansas basketball was back in Allen Fieldhouse Tuesday night, where they found a strong deal of success against in-state Kansas State.
Along with some improvement from the perimeter, Kansas found some success from their inside approach. Ochai Agbaji contributed well on the night with15 points and a pair of three-point buckets.
Ochai had a productive night against the Wildcats, finding a decent amount of opportunities at the basket. He also met his mark from last year for shots outside the mark, which is impressive to see.
That is the 46th three-point basket for Ochai Agbaji this year, which is as many as he made all of last season. He needed 21 fewer attempts to reach that mark, too. He's jumped from 34% to 40% as a junior. The patented "Bill Self Junior Leap."
— Rock Chalk Blog (@RockChalkBlog) February 3, 2021
The junior suffered an ankle hiccup in the second half but seemed to come away alright from it. Regardless, it was scary to think he’d miss potential time following the incident.
Agbaji has been a leader for this Kansas offense and has been looked to for a good portion of the Jayhawks’ production on the floor. Keeping him healthy will be a must going forward the rest of the season.
Having him on his game is going to allow this team to get back on track and look to improve their season. Following the win against Kansas State, the road gets much tougher.
With their sights on West Virginia, the Jayhawks will head to Morgantown on Saturday to face a talented Mountaineers defense. The same defense that Kansas put up a 14 point win against last time they met.
It could be a different story this time around, however, as Kansas has dropped several games and is still trying to climb their way back. If the Jayhawks want to pick up a road win against the Mountaineers, they’re going to need guys like Agbaji to be on their game.