Scouting Report: Kansas Jayhawks

All eyes will be on the Kentucky Wildcats and Kansas Jayhawks when they tip-off at 6:00 in Lawrence. The two winningest programs in NCAA history will be meeting for the 34th time in their history this evening. The Wildcats hold a 23-10 overall advantage, but the Jayhawks have won four of the last five games. In the Coach Calipari era the record is an even .500 with each matchup featuring both teams in the top 25.

Coach Bill Self’s group is currently ranked #5 nationally with a 17-2 record, 6-1 in the Big 12. Kansas’ last three games have each been won by three points a piece including Monday night’s double overtime thriller against Texas Tech. The Jayhawks are excellent and efficient offensively, feature a deep stable of veteran talent, and are extremely tough to beat at Allen Fieldhouse.

Senior wing Ochai Agbaji has emerged as a National Player of the Year candidate averaging 21.3 points per game. Agbaji has gone for 29 and 37 in the Jayhawks last two games. Interestingly, Remy Martin was chosen has the Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year and now comes off the bench for Kansas as their fifth leading scorer. That gives an indication of how deep their talent pool is.

As always, we’ve got a full scouting report prepared for the Kansas Jayhawks. We will dive deep into their personnel, breakdown the offensive and defensive schemes, and provide the keys to the game. Now, let’s all get focused for what will be one heck of a test for the Wildcats against the Jayhawks.

Kansas Jayhawks Personnel

Starters

#3 Dajuan Harris Jr.: 6’1″ 170 lbs, Redshirt Sophomore Point Guard

5.2 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 3.7 apg

Quick, pass-first point guard. More of a driver than a shooter. No right hand drives! You have to stay between him and the basket. Get over and cut off the right hand drives. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Just throw up a hand to contest if he shoots it behind. Don’t let him reject ballscreens, especially to drive it right. The deeper he drives it the more he is driving to pass. Don’t over help when he drives. We would rather make him finish than give up an assist. Just make him score over you. Get the ball stopped in transition. You can help off him when he doesn’t have it. Closeout a step short when you recover. No right hand drives. No layups!

#30 Ochai Agbaji: 6’5″ 215 lbs, Senior Guard

21.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.4 apg

Elite scoring guard. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Shooting 47% from 3 making 3.3 per game. You have to be tight to him at all times to take him away from 3. Absolutely no help off him. You only stunt at others and then recover aggressively. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Switch anytime you need to in order to take him away. When they downscreen for him we have to give good help at the point of the screen to keep him from catching it on the curl. Just switch it if he curls into your chest. Good getting to the rim either way, but better driving it right. No right hand drives! Be ready to contest the pull-ups jumpers. Make it hard for him to catch it on the perimeter. Will post up against smaller defenders. Be physical and contest. No 3’s!

#2 Christian Braun: 6’7″ 218 lbs, Junior Guard/Forward

15.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 3.4 apg

Bigger wing playmaker. Capable shooter, but much better and more aggressive as a driver. No right hand drives! He really wants to attack closeouts from the perimeter. You need to be there to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s and then bounce back to guard the right hand drives. Chase him off downscreens and flares. Switch if he ballscreens. Very good cutter off the ball. Don’t get back cut. Excellent in transition. They will throw it ahead to him to drive up the sidelines. Get back and protect the basket. Don’t over help when he drives it. Very good passer. Likes to use the shot fake at the end of his drives. Stay down. Make him score with you between him and the basket. Crashes the glass hard. Excellent offensive rebounder. Box out!!!

#10 Jalen Wilson: 6’8″ 225 lbs, Redshirt Sophomore Forward

8.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.7 apg

Skilled 4-man. Capable shooter, but not shooting a good percentage this season. More dangerous as a driver than as a shooter. Just put a hand up to contest if he shoots. We will adjust if he makes a couple. You can help off him but then you need to closeout under control. No right hand drives! Really wants to attack closeouts from the perimeter. If he drives it left he is always coming back right to finish. Likes to spin back to his right to finish. They will ballscreen for him quite a bit. Go under the ballscreens and be willing to switch. Will slip screens to catch it on the perimeter or flash into space inside. Right hand, left shoulder around the basket. Very good bringing it in transition. Protect the basket and get the ball stopped. Excellent offensive rebounder. Box out!

#33 David McCormack: 6’10” 250 lbs, Senior Center

9.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 0.9 apg

Big, strong 5-man. Looking for deep post catches. Wants to duck you in around the basket. Fighting hard to catch the ball with two feet in the paint. You need to be physical and try to get him off the block. His percentages will go down the further off the block he catches it. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Ballscreens and rolls hard to the basket. Very capable 15-foot jump shooter. You need to give a hard contest when he faces up and shoots from mid-range. You can stunt and fake at him when he has the ball inside, but be careful helping too much off of shooters. If you help you need to go steal the ball. 17 assists to 27 turnovers. Take it off him. Elite offensive rebounder. You need to be physical and keep him from getting it. Clear out space. Box out!!!

Bench

#11 Remy Martin: 6’0″ 175 lbs, Super Senior Guard

8.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.1 apg

Quick, playmaking guard. Very aggressive off the dribble. Good shooter as well. Need to play him as straight up as possible. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. He will shoot behind if you go under. Need to be there to take away the 3’s. Really drives it hard to his right. No right hand drives! Don’t let him reject ballscreens to go to his right. Will shoot the pull-up going to his left and look to go all the way to the rim when going right. Stay between him and the basket. Pushes it hard in transition. Get back and protect the basket. Don’t over help when he drives it. Very good passer. Have to contest everything. Switch if you need to in order to stay between him and the basket. Contest the jump shots. No 3’s off the dribble and no layups going to his right hand.

#44 Mitch Lightfoot: 6’8″ 225 lbs, Super Senior Forward

5.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 0.4 apg

Backup forward. Posts up hard. Will duck you in. Looking for deep post catches with two feet in the paint. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and get him off the block. His percentages will go down the further off the block you make him catch it. Make him score with you between him and the basket. Will ballscreen and roll. Likes to slip screens to look for it inside. Don’t let him play harder than you. Excellent offensive rebounder. Box out!

#55 Jalen Coleman-Lands: 6’4″ 190 lbs, Super Senior Guard

4.6 ppg, 0.6 rpg, 0.6 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! You have to be tight to him at all times to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s! 42 of 63 shots have been 3’s. Chase him off downscreens and flares. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Absolutely no help off him. Your only job when guarding him is to take away the 3-point attempts. If he isn’t dribbling you aren’t close enough. No 3’s!

#24 K.J. Adams Jr.: 6’7″ 225 lbs, Freshman Forward

1.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.4 apg

Strong, athletic backup forward. High-energy. Non-shooter. Closeout short when he is on the perimeter. Right hand driver. Mostly in their to ballscreen and roll. Right hand, left shoulder around the basket. Crashes the offensive glass hard. You have to be physical with him. Don’t let him play harder than you. Box out!

Kansas Jayhawks Offense

Per KenPom, the Kansas Jayhawks rank third in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency. However, they have failed to break 70 points in three of their seven Big 12 games. This is a very dangerous team with a lot of weapons, but they have struggled at times to find consistent scoring outside of Ochai Agbaji.

The Jayhawks want to play fast offensively looking for opportunities in transition whenever they present themselves. They typically have four guys on the floor at all times who can start the fast break and bring the ball up the floor which helps speed things up. 6’7″ wing Christian Braun and 6’8″ forward Jalen Wilson are both at their best in transition. That will present a unique matchup for us when trying to check those guys in the open floor. We must stay disciplined to protecting the basket, stopping the ball, and then matching up starting with the next most dangerous guy.

In the half court, Kansas is going to run 4-around-1 Motion offense with a lot of off-ball screening action. They still set a lot of ballscreens within their Motion and really look for #33 McCormack inside, but they will set more off-ball screens than a lot of teams do in their Motion. Much that screening action will be for #30 Agbaji. He is excellent off the downscreen and loves to try to curl towards the middle of the floor. Our defense at the point of the screen will be crucial to slowing him down. Let’s go ahead and get in the film room to take a look at the Kansas Jayhawks offense.

Transition Throw Ahead

This is really where Kansas is at their most dangerous. Since they have four guys who can handle the ball and are good in transition they really like to throw the ball ahead to attack the basket quickly. #2 Braun and #10 Wilson are especially good on the throw ahead. Here they advance the ball to #10 Wilson around the left wing and he attacks for a layup. He is always going to want to spin back right when he is on the left side. Be ready to steal the ball on the spin move. Get over and cut him off. Protect the basket.

Secondary Ball Movement

A lot of times simply getting the ball down the floor quickly will pay dividends for Kansas a little later in the possession. They always have great ball movement and are a very unselfish team. In this clip the ball is thrown ahead to Ochai Agbaji who attacks the middle of the floor and kicks it out to Christian Braun. Just five seconds into the shot clock and the Jayhawks have the defense in scramble mode. This is why having sound closeouts is so important. Inside of the scoring area there are three passes plus a shot fake and one-dribble pull-up from Agbaji all within the first 11 seconds of the shot clock. You have to be ready for them to come at you fast.

4-around-1 Motion

The Kansas Jayhawks really move the ball well in their Motion. They can change sides of the floor quickly and the ball never sticks in someone’s hands for too long. After fighting for position on each block as the ball gets moved, #33 McCormack gets deep position on the right block and gets a catch with both feet on the block. This is too deep of a catch to give up. He is just too big and strong to guard when he is this close to the rim. You have to really work and be physical to make him come out off the block to catch it.

Downscreen to Handoff

Within their Motion, the Jayhawks really like to get to this downscreen to handoff action for #30 Agbaji. He is excellent when coming off to his right hand. If there is this much space at the point of the downscreen then you have to communicate the switch for the handoff. Agbaji already has a head of steam and is able to turn the corner way too easily here for the uncontested pull-up jumper.

Backscreen to Ballscreen

In terms of set plays, this is what Coach Self will call the most. After some initial pre-movement to change sides of the floor the Jayhawks will get into what is essentially a “Chin” action. They backscreen for #30 Agbaji and then come ballscreen for #10 Wilson. They will set this ballscreen for #10 Wilson a lot. If we have to give this much help on the backscreen we need to just switch it so that we can then switch the ballscreen. Going underneath is okay (this really should be a moving screen) because we are more worried about him turning the corner to his right than shooting behind it. However, switching a 4-on-5 ballscreen is always a good option.

Flare to Handoff

When Kansas needed a bucket down the stretch against Kansas State, Coach Self called this play two times in a row. #30 Agbaji got fouled was fouled on a three on the first possession and then hit the game-winner here. They will flare him in and then bring him back off a handoff on the wing. We want to chase the flare and then chase over top of the handoff as well. Don’t let him reject it and drive it right! Make him come off and then switch if we need to.

High Ballscreen

A lot of their possessions will start with a high ballscreen to flow into their Motion. We want to go over the ballscreens set for #11 Martin and we especially HAVE to over if they are set as low as the last one. That is too easy of a pull-up jumper for him.

Kansas Jayhawks Defense

Coach Bill Self and company are still searching for their identity on the defensive end this season. The Kansas Jayhawks are a man-to-man team that won’t really look to do anything flashy with their defense. They are a good, not great, rim protecting team, they force turnovers at an above-average rate but are still outside the top 100, and they aren’t great on the defensive glass despite being an excellent offensive rebounding team. All of that adds up to the 51st ranked defense per KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric. Again, good and solid, but not spectacular.

They have athleticism across the board and will switch a lot of screening action one through four. At the five, they will generally shadow the ballscreens going over the top on the ball and then allowing the five man to drop towards the basket to contain the ball handler. This helps to keep #33 McCormack closer to the basket. There should be openings for us to really attack them in ballscreen situations.

Keys to the Game

• Contain #30 Agbaji. Take him away from 3! Hold him to 2 or fewer made 3’s. Stay tight to him at all times. Switch if you need to. Contest everything. Make it hard for him to catch it. More shots than points.
• Transition defense. The Jayhawks are coming at your fast. Get back and get the basket, stop the ball, and matchup from there. Love the throw aheads to #2 Braun and #10 Wilson. Guard the right hand drives!
• Win the battle on the boards. Led by #33 McCormack, Kansas is excellent on the offensive glass. They aren’t as good on the defensive end. We have the advantage on both ends still. Out rebound them.
• Take and make 3’s. Opponents shoot over 20 3’s per game against the Kansas Jayhawks, but make just 6.4. They hold teams to 31.3% from deep. We will need 8+ 3’s this evening.