Kansas Coach Bill Self, Leading Scorer Jalen Wilson Preview Matchup With Indiana

Kansas forward Jalen Wilson returned from last year's national championship team, and he's now leading the Jayhawks in scoring under coach Bill Self. Wilson and Self shared their thoughts Saturday's matchup with Indiana.

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Bill Self is one of the premier coaches in college basketball, and he has another highly-ranked team in 2022-23.

Despite losing Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun, David McCormack, Remy Martin and others from last year's national championship team, the Jayhawks are ranked No. 8 with a 9-1 record. Forward Jalen Wilson withdrew from the NBA Draft to return for his senior season, and he's nearly doubled his scoring total from 11.1 to 22.1 points per game. 

On Thursday, Wilson and Self held a press conference to preview Saturday's matchup with Indiana, which tips off at Noon ET inside Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.

On Kansas's most recent game against Indiana in 2016...

Self: Oh that's right, and they beat us. I hadn't even thought on that, so God, thanks for that memory. I think they had the kid go for, who was it, was it Blackmon? Yeah, it was Blackmon that killed us that game, wasn't it? Was that in overtime? That was an overtime game, and we had to scramble to catch our flight to New York City because we played Duke the next game. Yeah, that was Josh [Jackson]'s debut. I wanted to forget about that. Thank you for reminding me of that. But no, Indiana is a blueblood and certainly we are. I don't think wins numbers are really relevant, but it'll be fun to get them back in the fieldhouse. Last time they were in the fieldhouse, if I'm not mistaken, was one of the most historic games ever in the fieldhouse. Hopefully this will have some of the same atmosphere and preferably with the same result.

On his impressions of Indiana this season...

Self: Their style is very sound. They're going guard. They don't give up easy baskets, and they make you score over the top of them. Even though I don't know that they're huge, they're big compared to us. Trayce is 6-9 and they're going to start 6-9 next to him, and so that is certainly a size advantage for them. Hopefully our quickness can offset that a little bit. But they've got – and I haven't heard yet on the guard on his health situation, Hood-Schifino – but obviously they've got an All-American anchoring everything for them, and we've got to do a good job on him to limit his touches.

On similarities between Indiana and any of Kansas' other opponents...

Self: I would say probably not. They play fast. They score more points than we're scoring right now. So if you want to say Big Ten and Wisconsin, that's not really a true indication because Wisconsin ain't gonna play nearly as fast as Indiana is gonna play. I would say we kind of mirror each other in a lot of ways in how we attempt to play.

On what he draws from recent matchups to prepare for Indiana...

Self: I think that Missouri plays totally opposite of Indiana in that their whole scheme is to create havoc. Indiana's whole scheme is to pressure but do it in a way that you don't have four-on-threes and three-on-twos behind it, which is much like how we try to guard. So you have to be very, very aggressive and at the same time patient to get a good look. I do think the last two opponent's we've been better at that, but we should probably go back to Atlantis to see how to attack it than maybe the last two opponents.

On Jalen Hood-Schifino...

Self: He's one of the best freshmen in the country. He can score, he can handle, he's strong, confident, plays with a swagger. They'll be fine without him, but obviously be better with him. I don't know the ins and outs of what they're trying to get accomplished in practice or what they lose by him not playing or what they gain from him playing from a tactical standpoint. But just from a visual standpoint, he's a good guard. He's strong and he's definitely one of the elite freshmen in the country.

On his confidence level in Kansas' forwards against Trayce Jackson-Davis...

Self: I would say right now that my confidence in that one particular thing isn't sky high. I think that they'll try to play to that, as well. If KJ [Adams] is in the game, he doesn't have the standing height that some of our other guys have, and our other guys have never guarded anybody like [Jackson-Davis], just to be real candid. So it'll be a tough matchup, and we're going to have to do some things to limit his touches and everything. He's a great player, so he's gonna score. He's gonna get some, there's no doubt about that. We just can't let it be a great number.

On Trayce Jackson-Davis...

Self: He's so quick off his feet. You guys will watch this. We won't play anybody anytime, maybe Wiggins, that second jump is quick. Trayce misses layups and then he dunks the follows. He's really quick off his feet, so if he's doing that offensively, he's obviously capable of doing that defensively, too. He's a great athlete, he can slide. I coached USA basketball when he was young, and he was a terrific talent then and he still is now. I think that the way that Mike [Woodson] and Indiana play, it's probably as sound a way – I don't know what Trayce is averaging blocks per game, do you know? Two or three is huge. That's huge. That's like top 10 in the country, so he's obviously quick off his feet. He's got great timing and he's I'm sure they consider him a very good help defender and a rim protector. So we need to move him around. It would be nice to get him away from the basket.

On who he would compare Trayce Jackson-Davis to...

Self: I hadn't really thought that through, but I would say he's unique in his own way in large part because he's left handed. Of all the really good ones out there, 10 percent are left handed, and not too many guys are blocking three shots per game and are that explosive like he is.

On his impressions of Indiana...

Jalen Wilson: We've seen a lot. I've played against some of those guys they have on the team growing up. Obviously Trayce is a big key to their team, and they play physical, they play hard. They've got a lot of good guards and guys that can give him the ball, so with the next two days that we have to prep, just got to continue watch more film. I feel like we've got a good feel on them.

On playing against Trayce Jackson-Davis in the past...

Wilson: Trayce is always a guy that I knew of in high school. He's been a big name since we were in high school. I actually obviously haven't played against him in college, so it will be cool. We're both way older now than when were in high school, so it will be fun to play against him." He's really just been a beast. He's been bigger than a lot of people most of the time of the game, and he still is. He's still able to use his dominant hand in the paint, move guys around. So we're going to have to change some things up to really change a guy like that. He's a guy that can really win a game.

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