Kansas basketball: Can Jayhawks guard Nick Timberlake break out of his slump?

Nick Timberlake has struggled mightily through the first month with Kansas basketball. Can he break out of his slump, or is this the player he is?

One of the biggest transfer portal pickups in the Big 12 this offseason was Nick Timberlake, a 6-foot-4 combo guard who had spent his five previous years at Towson. However, the version of Timberlake that Kansas basketball has seen is unlike the one the coaching staff expected when he committed to the Jayhawks.

Through ten contests, he is averaging 3.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.5 assists on 33.3% field goal shooting and 29.2% 3-point shooting. Those shooting splits are substantially worse than the 45.5/41.6/84.5 numbers he posted in the 2022-23 season.

Some people believe in the “shooter’s shoot” mentality, but his struggles extend far beyond the shooting slump. Although he was never known for his presence on the defensive end at Towson, Timberlake has arguably been the worst defender on the roster. Mizzou guard Sean East II even pointed out that he was a poor defender in his postgame press conference, and the Tigers planned to attack him whenever they could.

Aside from his 13-point performance in the season opening win against NC Central, Timberlake has posted a goose egg in the scoring column twice. In fact, he is averaging 2.4 points on 25.8% shooting during that span. He clearly has a case of the “yips” — the question is whether he can overcome them as the season progresses.

Australian freshman Johnny Furphy has shown some promise during the season. We have even seen Jamari McDowell — who was not expected to play much, if at all, as a first-year player — steal minutes away from Timberlake.

Jayhawk Nation is all rooting for him to become the player he was at Towson. But with the season more than one month underway and very few signs of improvement, time is running out for Nick Timberlake to earn the trust of Bill Self.