In Tuesday night’s 105-62 blowout win over the UMKC Kangaroos, the Kansas Jayhawks scored 1.44 points per possession in a dazzling offensive performance.
According to Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star, 1.44 points per possession was the most for the Jayhawks against a Division 1 team since the 2014 season.
This offensive performance was charged by three-pointers. The Jayhawks finished the game 15-27 from three, with all but three of those being made by the starting backcourt of Frank Mason and Devonte’ Graham. Mason finished with 30 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists on 6-7 from three. Graham finished with 18 points and 4 assists on 6-8 from three.
Kansas never trailed in this one, scoring first on a Josh Jackson layup about 30 seconds into the game, and running out to an early 13-3 lead, thanks mostly to an early flurry by Jackson. He showed a lot of different moves in this game, and stuffed the statsheet, finishing with 19 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
UMKC cut the early Kansas lead to 30-24, but Kansas punched back and went to the locker room up 51-35. The second half was all Jayhawks, outscoring the Kangaroos 54-27 en route to the 43 point victory.
Other notes from the game:
This win marked the 600th in Bill Self’s coaching career. He is the 32nd coach all time to reach that milestone, and with 22 games remaining in the regular season, plus postseason play, it’s possible for Self to move into the top 30 this season. Billy Tubbs is 31st all-time with 609 career wins, then Steve Morrill is 30th with 620 career wins. Longtime Big 12 foe Rick Barnes is 29th with 622.
28 minutes for Sviatoslav Myhailiuk off the bench was tied with Jackson for second-most on the team, behind only Frank Mason’s 31 minutes. He finished with 10 points and 7 rebounds on 2-7 from three. He’s fifth on the team in minutes this year, and the competition for minutes between him and Lagerald Vick should be something to watch going forward.
Bill Self has famously referred to the three-point shot as “fool’s gold,” but if there’s a year for him to abandon that philosophy, it’s this one. Since starting the year slow from outside against Indiana, Duke, and Siena, the Jayhawks are attempting 24 threes per game, and are making exactly 50 percent of those threes. The competition hasn’t been great, but after last year’s team attempted over 19 threes per game, the most for a Bill Self coached Kansas team ever, 24 is a huge number in comparison.
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