Kansas basketball: 3 positives, 3 negatives from Jayhawks scrimmage loss to Illinois

Kansas Basketball Negative No. 1: KU’s bench did not contribute anything to the game

And now to the bad. There was a whole lot of bad. Let’s start with the bench play (or lack thereof).

The only player to score a point off the bench was Nick Timberlake, who had four. Even he was underwhelming when he was playing. He missed all of his 3-point attempts, though his defensive rotations were better than I anticipated. Besides that, everyone else in the second unit was a big zero.

Parker Braun and Jamari McDowell don’t seem to be on the level to compete against good teams yet. That could change over the course of the year, but given Braun’s track record and McDowell’s average recruiting ranking, these two players could receive some DNPs against the Houston’s and Baylor’s of the conference.

Of course, the disappointing bench was largely in part due to Johnny Furphy’s injury. As he continues to work his way back from shin splints, the Australian freshman should contribute plenty in his minutes. However, Sunday’s game showed how thin our bench can be if one or two players get injured.