Jalen Wilson’s offensive struggles are worrisome for the NCAA Tournament

Jalen Wilson

He has been one of the best players in the country this year, but Jalen Wilson seems to have fallen into a slump at the wrong time. Despite putting up counting stats all year, Wilson has struggled on the offensive end in the past few weeks.

There have been several ugly shooting nights on Wilson’s part lately. Over his past seven contests, he has been shooting 37.1% from the field and 17.4% from three-point range. His free throws attempted are also significantly less than his season average.

Wilson has now missed his last 17 three-point tries. This is a very concerning number for a player who shoots 5.8 threes per game.

Kansas fans all know what Wilson is capable of when firing on all cylinders. He put on a clinic in his 38-point performance versus Kansas State back in January and was terrific for the first half of the season. But is it possible that Big 12 defenses have figured out how to slow down Wilson?

All schools in the conference know that Wilson leads with his right hand around the basket, which has cost him in the points department. In the aforementioned seven-game stretch, he is averaging slightly above 13 points. On the other hand, KU has come out victorious in all these matchups, so perhaps the Jayhawks do not need Wilson to have strong offensive performances to win games.

Understandably, all players will have bad games. Bill Self has plenty of options to center his plays around if Wilson is having an off night.

Regardless, it is something to monitor as the Jayhawks enter the postseason. When Gradey Dick is having a poor shooting game, as he did on Tuesday versus Texas Tech, there is not a lot of offensive firepower for the Jayhawks.

Wilson has made up for his poor offense by exerting lots of defensive effort and playmaking in the half-court. He is a very diverse talent who makes up for his lack of athleticism with his intangibles on the floor.

He will have a chance to break out of his slump this Saturday in Austin. If Wilson can become the scoring juggernaut he was earlier in the season, Kansas will be an extremely tough school to beat in the NCAA Tournament. He has to be the tone-setter should the Jayhawks repeat as National Champions.