If you want to be aggressive in your stance on what the term “official” means, then the basketball season has officially arrived, and with that meant last Friday, the Kansas Jayhawks took on their first of two exhibitions against ACC side the No. 11 Louisville Cardinals.
Kansas ended up taking a 90-82 win, where star freshman guard Darryn Peterson showed out. Peterson notched 26 points on an electric 9-15 performance from the field, which also saw four rebounds and two assists make up for Peterson’s six turnovers.
While the cameras will deservedly shine on Peterson’s debut, when speaking with the media earlier this week, Self wanted to shine some light on one aspect of Kansas’ defense.
“I think one thing that was very telling the other night on a team that likes to shoot a lot of threes [Louisville], we actually defended the arc a lot better than we did last year,” quoted the two-time NCAA National Champion coach.
“Even though we fouled a couple of times, but they had rushed threes, more so than it seemed like last year.”
To be transparent, Self was not completely satisfied with his defense and even stated earlier, “We have to get really good defensively, and we're not,” which still tells a big story of things that need to be improved upon.
Of course, there are the caveats which must be noted, including the biggest that this is just an exhibition and these stats and performances will be mostly forgotten by the time the regular season tips off. Yet in that balance, it is fair to also take note of where Kansas did excel.
Last season, Kansas posed one of the toughest three-point defenses in the nation, as Kansas allowed just 30.8% of opposing three-pointers to go in, and against the Cardinals on Friday, the ACC team managed to hit just 28.9% of its shots from beyond the arc.
Louisville, of course, is one of the nation’s most revamped teams. Five Louisville players marked 20 minutes on Friday, and all but J’Vonne Hadley were suiting up for their first time in a Cardinal uniform.
Of those who played 20+ minutes, Ryan Conwell shot 3-12 from beyond the arc, Hadley went 2-2, Issac McKneely notched 2-7, five-star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. went 2-10, and Adrian Wooley shot 1-3.
McKneely, Wooley, and Conwell all posted clips above 40% last season on three-point attempts. Hadley marked 38.1% from the field, and Brown averaged 29.6 points per game last season, clearly showing an ability to be a shotmaker all across the court.
Once again, this is still a Louisville team that will take time to gel, and the same goes for Kansas, but it is a good sign to see the three-point defense still hold weight even after a Summer overhaul.
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