The No. 17 Kansas Jayhawks are just coming off the adrenaline rush of a 77-76 overtime thriller against the NC State Wolfpack.
The story of that Saturday came down to St. Bonaventure transfer Melvin Council Jr.
Throughout his career, Council has never been the world’s most efficient three-point shooter. In his two seasons at Wagner and St. Bonaventure, Council shot 26.9% and 29.9% from beyond the arc.
Even this year, the Council was 5-27 before Saturday, which translates to an approximate 18.5%.
All of that changed on Saturday. All of a sudden, Council looked like a natural-born beyond-the-arc specialist. Council notched a superb 9-15 from three with a timely 36 points, which led the next highest scorer (Quadir Copeland) by a whopping 17 points.
Yes, there is an elephant in the room in the fact that Council notched just one of his four free throws; all of his misses felt like potential momentum shifters, which became a moot point when Council nailed five of Kansas’ 11 points in overtime.
Prior to Tuesday’s matchup against the Towson Tigers, Kansas head coach Bill Self spoke with the media about Council’s performance.
“They dared him shoot. Obviously, they dared him to shoot, and they went under everything, and the best thing that he did was he shot it,” quoted Self.
“You know, if he goes three for eight, from three, uncontested, well, technically, that means five shots or a long shot, long rebounds are better percentage, even though we haven't done it like we're capable of offensive rebounding long three misses.”
Melvin Council Jr. is everything Kansas basketball fans should want in a player
So far this season, the Jayhawks rank as the 145th-best three-point shooters in the nation, as Kansas has hit 34.3% of its attempts.
Over the course of the Jayhawks’ first 11 games, Kansas’ scoring has been up-and-down as Self’s squad is rated as the 173rd offense with 74.8 points per game and a shooting percentage that sits 123rd with 45.7%.
It is worth considering the fact that Kansas has been dealt a difficult schedule, as Kansas has already faced eight quad one or two games and has managed a decent 5-3 record, especially considering that a majority of those games have come without five-star freshman Darryn Peterson, who has been dealing with cramping and hamstring issues.
Tipoff against the Towson Tigers is set for 8 p.m. CT with streaming available on ESPN 2