Scouting Report: Kansas Jayhawks

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You could use results from the Champions Classic to pretty well track Kentucky’s seasons over the years. The Wildcats defeated the Kansas Jayhawks in the inaugural event before going on to win the 2012 National Championship. In 2013 they lost to Duke and missed the NCAA Tournament entirely. Then, a 3-1 stretch from 2014 through 2017 coincided with more great years of Kentucky basketball. However, since then, the ‘Cats are just 1-5 in the Champions Classic which has gone in lockstep with some overall slippage as a program. It is obviously unfair to say that a mid-November game defines the season. Correlation does not equal causation. That being said, Kentucky’s best teams have had success in the early season event.

On Tuesday night at the United Center in Chicago, the young Wildcats will be tasked with taking on college basketball’s best team. Kentucky comes in ranked #17 in the AP Poll with a 40-point win over New Mexico State and a 20-point win over Texas A&M-Commerce. Meanwhile, #1 ranked Kansas has put up exactly 99 points in each of their contests defeating North Carolina Central by 43 and Manhattan by 38. The Jayhawks have the clear edge in Division I experience and minutes continuity. However, the Wildcats freshmen are talented enough to win any game. A lack of size will make Hunter Dickinson the clear focal point of this game, as he is in any game, but just as Kentucky will struggle to match up with Kansas, the Jayhawks will have to find a way to guard the ‘Cats.

As usual, we have prepared a full, in-depth scouting report for Kentucky’s first marquee opponent of the young season. We will take a deep dive into the Jayhawks’ personnel, break down their offensive and defensive schemes, and highlight the keys to the game for the ‘Cats. Let’s dive on in and get to know more about the #1 Kansas Jayhawks.

Kansas Jayhawks Personnel

Starters

#3 Dajuan Harris Jr.: 6’2″ 170 lbs, Redshirt Senior Point Guard

1.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 7.5 apg

Pass-first point guard. Capable shooter but much more aggressive as a driver. Career 38.8% from 3, including 40.5% last season, but all on relatively low volume. More concerned about him driving it right than shooting it from the perimeter. No right hand drives! You can hop underneath the ballscreens and handoffs to stay between him and the basket. We don’t want to have to help and open up passing lanes for him. The deeper he drives it the more he is driving it to pass. Do not over help on his drives! Excellent throwing it up to the roll man. We would rather him lay it up once or twice than over help and give him assists. Get the ball stopped in transition. Stay between him and the basket at all times. Tighten up as he drives it towards you. Do not over help on his drives!

#13 Elmarko Jackson: 6’3″ 195 lbs, Freshman Guard

8.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 7.5 apg

Athletic, strong guard. Essentially a second point guard on the floor. Much more dangerous as a right hand driver than as a shooter. No right hand drives!!! Closeout short to stay between him and the basket. Just get a hand up to contest if he shoots. We do not want him to be able to attack our closeouts. You can hop underneath the ballscreens and handoffs. Don’t let him get downhill to the rim. Get your hands up, be physical, and wall up at the end of his drives. Very good finisher going right. He is an excellent passer and very willing. Do not over help, especially when he is driving it left. Would rather make him finish over you than open up a passing lane. Get the ball stopped in transition. Explosive driver. No right hand drives. Don’t over help.

#15 Kevin McCullar Jr.: 6’7″ 212 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

18.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 4.5 apg

Bigger wing. Willing shooter. 30.3% for his career, but 5-12 so far this season. Need to treat him as a shooter to start the game. No catch-and-shoot 3’s! Chase him off of downscreens and get over the flares. Be willing to switch anytime there is space on the perimeter to get out and take away the 3. Switch if he ballscreens. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. The other two guards are more drivers than shooters so we can focus on taking him away from 3. Always the next most dangerous guy in transition. Once you take away the initial catch-and-shoot he is going to drive it right. Physical driver. Will post up some. You need to be physical and wall up around the basket. Always coming back right to finish. Do not over help off of him. Stay tight. No catch-and-shoot 3’s!

#24 KJ Adams Jr.: 6’7″ 235 lbs, Junior Forward

13.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.5 apg

Super athletic forward. Screener, slasher, and right hand driver. No right hand drives! He is looking to attack closeouts or face up and drive it right. Stay between him and the basket. He is a NON-SHOOTER! 13-16 from 2 this season because he scores everything at the rim. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Good playmaker out of the short roll. He will look to slip screens to get a catch in the paint. Don’t let him cut your face when he is off of the ball. He is an active mover and screener. You can close out VERY short any time he is on the perimeter. Make him drive it at you then stay down, be physical, and wall up. Make him score with you between him and the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Excellent offensive rebounder. Box out! No layups or dunks for him.

#1 Hunter Dickinson: 7’2″ 260 lbs, Senior Center

19.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 3.5 apg

Highly skilled 5-man. Lefty. Loves to operate from the mid-post area and the top of the key. Will face-up on a lot of catches. Have to get all the way up into his space to take away the face-up J’s. No uncontested face-up J’s! Pressure him to challenge his passes as well. Will put it on the floor and drive it left. Be ready to guard without fouling. Force him back into the help. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Be an active helper off of non-shooters. Do not want him to be comfortable. Can’t let him dribble it more than twice. Stunt and fake at him. Always looking to duck you in for a deep catch. Work around to deter the pass. Have to take away the easy face-up J’s, trail spot 3’s, and the left hand, right shoulder baskets. Excellent offensive rebounder. Box out!

Bench

#10 Johnny Furphy: 6’9″ 202 lbs, Freshman Guard

10.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.0 apg

Big backup guard. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 11 of 14 shots have been 3’s. 45.5% from 3. Need to be tight to him at all times to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. CHASE him off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Be very willing to SWITCH anytime there is space on the perimeter to take him away from 3. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Absolutely no help off of him. Need to find him in transition. Pressure him on the perimeter and make him put it on the floor. If he isn’t dribbling you aren’t close enough. Absolutely no catch-and-shoot 3’s! No help off of him!

#23 Parker Braun: 6’10” 235 lbs, Graduate Student Forward

10.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.5 apg

Backup 5-man. Looking to score everything at the rim. He is 8-8 from 2-point range this season. Looking to ballscreen and roll to the rim. You need to give ground and stay between him and the basket on the roll. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off of the block you make him catch it. Looking for deep post catches. He is going to try and duck you in hard. Do your work early and fight around to get position. He won’t really even look to score if he is off of the block with you between him and the basket. Be physical, wall up, and make him score over you. Box out! No deep post catches. No dunks or layups for him. Don’t over help off of him at the rim.

#25 Nichols Timberlake: 6’4″ 195 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

7.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.5 apg

Backup guard. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 7 of 9 shots have been 3’s. 38.2% career 3-point shooter with 235 made 3’s. Need to be tight to him at all times to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. CHASE him off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Be very willing to SWITCH anytime there is space on the perimeter to take him away from 3. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Absolutely no help off of him. Need to find him in transition. Pressure him on the perimeter and make him put it on the floor. If he isn’t dribble you aren’t close enough. Absolutely no catch-and-shoot 3’s! No help off of him!

#11 Jamari McDowell: 6’4″ 180 lbs, Freshman Guard

5.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.0 apg

Athletic backup guard. Need to play him straight up. Capable shooter and very good right hand driver. Be there to get a hand up and contest catch-and-shoot 3’s, but then bounce back and guard against the right hand drive. No right hand drives! Error on the side of staying between him and the basket. You can hop underneath the ballscreens and handoffs. Get the ball stopped in transition. We want to make him finish when he is driving it, especially if he is driving it left. Do not over help on his drives. He will fly in from the perimeter to crash the offensive glass. Be physical and box out. No right hand drives.

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Kansas Jayhawks Offense

You don’t score 99 points in back-to-back games by accident. It doesn’t matter what level of competition you are going against that is impressive. The Kansas Jayhawks have been firing on all cylinders offensively to start this season. Most impressively, despite shooting being thought of as a weakness going into the season, the Jayhawks have shot 46.9% from three-point range. They are 23-49 through two games. Their effective field goal percentage of 72% is the best in all of college basketball. In typical fashion, Coach Bill Self is succeeding with some 4-around-1 Motion offense that morphs to 5-out some with Hunter Dickinson. Kansas will also run some ballscreen continuity and have several effective set plays in the half court. Guarding them is very difficult.

Here is a look at the Kansas Jayhawks Motion offense. There will be four guys on the perimeter and Hunter Dickinson will operate inside or pop to the perimeter to create a 5-out look. North Carolina Central did a good job early in the possession staying in off of KJ Adams and essentially not guarding him on the perimeter. However, later on, they got too far off of #15 McCuller as Harris threw the drift pass for a corner 3. Great ball and player movement on this possession.

Aside from their Motion, the Jayhawks will be in this ballscreen continuity more than anything else in the half court. The primary breakdown here is that we will want to try and hop underneath the ballscreens and handoffs when #3 Harris Jr. is coming off. First of all he is much more dangerous as a driver and playmaker than he is as a passer. Secondly, going under keeps you from having to help off of the roll at all. Instead, the defense gets hung up at the point of the screen, they can’t help off of #10 Furphy in the corner, and it leaves #23 Braun open for the alley-oop on the roll.

This is both an example of what can work versus the Kansas Jayhawks and what can also be back-breaking for us defensively. Good job going UNDER the ballscreens. Not worried about #3 Harris shooting behind them. You have to REBOUND the misses though. Then, great job not over helping on the drive. We want to make him finish. You have to REBOUND the misses though! Great defense by Manhattan, but two offensive rebounds leads to a Dickinson And-1. That hurts.

One of the things that makes guarding a Coach Self offense so difficult is the layers to every possession. You have to guard multiple actions and the Jayhawks will keep coming at your for 30 seconds. Here they begin with a high-low action that they like with Dickinson and Adams. Those two are interchangeable in these positions, but Dickinson is the better passer. He can’t get the ball delivered inside this time though so they flow into Motion. Dickinson is such a smart offensive player and is constantly moving or screening. Great job flipping this ballscreen to set it downhill. He then pops into wide open space for the 3. Manhattan actually did a good job hopping underneath, but the defender guarding Dickinson stayed on the ball too long.

This clip is from the Jayhawks charity exhibition game at Illinois. Another example of why we need to go UNDER the ballscreens against #3 Harris. When you go over you have to stay longer to corral the ball and that allows him to throw it up to the roll man. We want to be able to stay attached to #1 Dickerson or #23 Braun on the roll.

There are a few things to watch on this possession. First, this is an example of #24 Adams on the short roll. Good job by Manhattan staying between him and the basket and then closing out under control to #13 Jackson. However, the breakdown defensively comes when #1 Dickinson gets the ball in the post. Stunting, faking, and aggressively doubling Dickinson at times will be a key to containing him in the post. You can’t do it until he dribbles though. He is too good of a passer to let him hold the ball and see you coming.

Kansas Jayhawks Defense

For as good as the Kanas Jayhawks have looked offensively to begin this season, they actually grade out better defensively per KenPom. The Jayhawks are fourth nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency compared to eighth on the offensive end. Out on the perimeter this group has a chance to be excellent. Dajuan Harris Jr. is arguably the best on-ball defender in the country and the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. Elmarko Jackson is a very high-level defender for a freshman. Kevin McCullar and KJ Adams provide excellent size and versatility. Then, at the 5, the Jayhawks have Hunter Dickinson who can at least be 7’2″ and in the way the rim. This group is going to matchup man-to-man, be very switchable 1-4, and look to be very good on the ball.

Keys to the Game

Win the three-point battle. To the extent that the Kansas Jayhawks have a weakness it is their three-point shooting. It will take a good shooting performance from us to win. We must make 8+ threes and preferably outshoot them by 2+.
Go score 80+. The Jayhawks are going to score. They are going to go on some runs. Just keep scoring. If we can put up 80+ tonight it will be a game at the final media timeout.
Defensive Rebound. We MUST end possessions with a defensive rebound. Working to get a stop will be hard enough, we can’t allow second chances. It’ll take an effort from all five guys on the floor. 75% or better on the defensive glass.
Shoot 75% or better from the free throw line.