KU Takes Care of Business

The turnovers were all that kept WVU in the game.

At one point KU had 10 TOs and Braun had 5 of them.

KU had 9 TOs at the half, 4 by CB.
CB had the next KU TO at the H2 16:00 mark, but that was his last ball handling miscue.
Just too bad the rest of the team came up with 5 more after that.

TOs and Points Made on TOs for the Game...
15 KU TOs led to 16 WVU points
5 WVU TOs led to 6 KU points

Another 20+ win (similar to the earlier AFH results) became a 13 point win instead.
Against a better scoring team, this game could very well have been a KU loss.

Anyway, on Christian -- his TOs were the only thing he really messed up on.
He did well overall as you pointed out.
I sure would like to see his shooting touch return, though --both from the floor and the FT line.
0-2 treys, 4-7 2pts, but I do not remember if he hit any shot he attempted outside of the paint.

And very good to see the solid team FT shooting (82%). Dave (5-7), OA (4-4) and Jalen (8-9) led the way.

Jalen's FT shooting is what got him to double figures, as he was 1-5 from the field (0-1 from 3).
Just grateful he has improved at the line, it's made a huge difference.

WIth all the flaws, though, this was a solid game. Morgantown is never an easy venue, and even though this WVU team is at an uncharacteristically low point, it's always good to leave WV with the W (Self is now 4-6 in the WVU Coliseum).

KU's Magic # is now 3.

Yessir, I'll always be happy with a win in Morgantown - especially by 11.

That being said, all I could think in watching it last night was how bad this year's WV team is. Just putrid. And honestly, it almost looked and felt like, coming in, they knew they weren't going to win. Just didn't see the typical junkyard dog fight in them that we saw in the Jevon Carter years, etc.

Still, a win is a win, particularly when it's on the road. (And it's not easy to avoid playing down to an inferior team)

A couple tactical game observations that tie in with the big picture - where we're headed as the postseason approaches:

(1) It's interesting that Self said after the game he played Mitch as the sole backup 5 due to experience. Since WV doesn't have a really big, dominant 5 inside, this fan would've liked to have seen Zach get substantially more minutes - knowing that we could use him as an extra weapon come March and April. (Not to mention that he's excelled nicely in his recent minutes) Since Self already knows full well what Mitch brings, and because Mitch did not give us good minutes when he was in last night, why not put in Zach?

(2) Joe gave us really strong minutes again last night. That steal and score on the inbounds (shoddy camera work, ESPN!) could not have come at a more opportune time. But just overall, the kid's speed, defense, and athleticism (my God, the vertical jump on that one rebound!) cement the need to have him augment our attack as a solid 6th man. Which takes me to my look-ahead point. A question, really. When Remy comes back (Self said this week he's feeling better), I worry greatly about what that might mean to our current rotation and chemistry. There was a point - weeks ago - where I thought Remy would be key to our postseason success. Now, after missing SO many games, and with our team on a pretty solid run - with Joe shining in the 6th man role and (as both a guy who can spell Harris to get him a breather during games, but also to pair at times with Harris when we want to go small and quick) - I worry about how everything gets impacted when Remy is ready to go again. When he is, Self will have some really tough decisions to make, rotation-wise, minutes distribution-wise, and team chemistry-wise. Curious what you astute observers think about this, with an eye toward optimizing our success come March and April.

Agree 100%, Corpus!

Everything I have read and heard is that Remy has been a great teammate and bench supporter through all his ills, and the rest of the guys are behind him 100% as a result. Like you I'm hoping that he can be that "je ne sais quoi" that propels KANSAS to the highest heights at season's end and deep into March.

I still think it’s going to be a tricky thing - assuming Remy does even come back fully healthy - for Self to manage the PT distribution and team flow, now that Joe has emerged and has shown himself to be a much better defender than Remy. The fact of the matter is that the team has moved on - they simply had no choice - and now they’ll have to find a way to plug back in a player in a rotation that has made strides in learning to play together.

I’m not in any way discounting Remy’s upside - I was on the “Free Remy” side of the aisle back when he wasn’t getting played enough. But the current team has found a flow and cohesion in his absence, and Joe clearly only plays well when he’s allowed sufficient minutes to get in a rhythm. I think it’s going to be an interesting challenge for Self - and the guys on the floor. Hopefully it’s managed in such a way that increases our ceiling and paves the way for a deeper run. TBD…

PS: Remy won’t get lots of minutes at the expense of Harris. Not gonna happen under Self this year, and especially now that Juan has been running point consistently - and pretty much exclusively - in Remy’s absence during a pretty solid KU conference run.

Self likes his security blanket, and Juan is performing as this team’s RussRob in Self’s eyes. (If you prefer Remy over Harris, don’t shoot the messenger)

konza63 wrote: I still think it’s going to be a tricky thing - assuming Remy does even come back fully healthy - for Self to manage the PT distribution and team flow, now that Joe has emerged and has shown himself to be a much better defender than Remy. The fact of the matter is that the team has moved on - they simply had no choice - and now they’ll have to find a way to plug back in a player in a rotation that has made strides in learning to play together.

I’m not in any way discounting Remy’s upside - I was on the “Free Remy” side of the aisle back when he wasn’t getting played enough. But the current team has found a flow and cohesion in his absence, and Joe clearly only plays well when he’s allowed sufficient minutes to get in a rhythm. I think it’s going to be an interesting challenge for Self - and the guys on the floor. Hopefully it’s managed in such a way that increases our ceiling and paves the way for a deeper run. TBD…

Your points are well taken and I believe valid.
So are those of Corpus.
The two positions are complementary, not oppositive. Two sides of the same coin.

Which is why your last two sentences are spot on.

Self typically likes to whittle his postseason rotation down to about 7 or 8 guys. At present, there's our starting 5, followed by Joe, Mitch, JCL, Zach, and KJ getting some minutes. (The first two the most, the last three notably less - notwithstanding an aberrant outing here and there) Add Remy back in and the number is up to 11.

It'll be interesting to watch it unfold. Whatever Self does, I just hope it works and we have a deep tourney run. We're due.

konza63 wrote: Yessir, I'll always be happy with a win in Morgantown - especially by 11.
…

(1) It's interesting that Self said after the game he played Mitch as the sole backup 5 due to experience. Since WV doesn't have a really big, dominant 5 inside, this fan would've liked to have seen Zach get substantially more minutes - knowing that we could use him as an extra weapon come March and April. (Not to mention that he's excelled nicely in his recent minutes) Since Self already knows full well what Mitch brings, and because Mitch did not give us good minutes when he was in last night, why not put in Zach?
…

I wanted to revisit this point as we haven’t touched upon it.

I’m with you, I don’t understand Zach not getting minutes against WVU, especially at this point in the season and with Mitch not playing well. When you consider how well Zach has played of late, I would have thought he would have been in the second time Self subbed for Dave to give Zach more experience and another chance to work into the “chemistry” you were discussing. If he didn’t do well, keep alternating subbing Mitch and Zach for Dave until one of them shows they’d playing better.

I can only think that Self is so focused on getting another Big 12 title — and also on repairing his W-L record in Morgantown (now 4-6) — that he once again sacrificed potential experience for the trusted, even if less talented, experienced guy. If so, it can’t be a confidence builder for Zach.

Concur. Self went with security - the more known known of Mitch - in Morgantown. He said as much in the aftermath, even noting that it really had no strategy dimension to it. It just felt right to go with experience. Speaks to your point that he’s focused on winning the league.

What’s sad is I think playing Zach some of those minutes - reserving the right to pull him out if he struggled, which he has not lately - might’ve not only not sacrificed the league title goal but could arguably advance our postseason goals. (Since having a more confident, battle-tested Zach, with his unique stretch and pop arsenal to go with his emergent post-up game and defensive energy, would make us more dangerous and lend us intriguing depth for certain match-ups)