Bill Self says transition defense was 'excellent'

Kansas‘ two games against TCU have been the low and high points of their season. A few weeks back, the reigning champs shockingly lost to the Horned Frogs by 23 points in Phog Allen Fieldhouse, which was the second loss in a three-game losing streak. Fast forward to this past Monday, and the Jayhawks extracted revenge over TCU in Fort Worth to win their fifth in a row.

It wasn’t a blowout, but the Jayhawks eked out a 63-58 win over a healthy Horned Frogs club — who, at full strength, play like a top-10 team. Another impressive victory following their 16-point win over Baylor two days prior. One of the keys this time around was limiting TCU in transition. Mike Miles and Damion Baugh are elite playmakers on the fast break and are the reason their team leads the country in transition points a game at just over 20.

However, Kansas was able thwart such opportunities on the break in Monday’s game with their bevy of athletic wings, whose length gave those TCU guards a bit more trouble than other Big 12 foes. Bill Self said he was really proud of his team’s defense in that phase when asked in the postgame:

“I thought it was excellent. The thing about is, it’s not your transition defense when you turn it over and they get numbers going the other way. We had the ball two or three times in the first half when we were running on transition and they steal the ball when we had a transition and they go down and make a layup. So that’s not transition defense, that’s just bad offense. But it was obviously much better.” 

TCU can be as dangerous offensively as anyone if they’re allowed to run and gun. But Kansas did a good job of slowing the game down and forcing TCU into their half-court sets, where they aren’t as effective.

Credit Bill Self for a sound game plan and, more importantly, for getting his team to execute it at a high level. The Jayhawks are rolling right now and look every bit the part of possible repeat champs with their recent play.