Bill Self Says Kansas' Defense 'Best It's Been' in Dominant Win Over Indiana

Kansas turned 23 Indiana turnovers into 28 points and held the Hoosiers to 37.7 percent shooting. Coach Bill Self said the Jayhawks' defense was the best it's been this season, leading to an 84-62 win over No. 14 Indiana on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Six Jayhawks finished with double-digit points, but it was their swarming defense that led to easy buckets and an 84-62 win over Indiana on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

With a week to prepare for the No. 14 Hoosiers, Kansas point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. said coach Bill Self preached defense throughout practice, specifically on Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis. 

The result was Kansas' best defensive game of the season, in Self's opinion. The Jayhawks stole the ball 17 times – five each from Gradey Dick and Kevin McCullar – and turned 23 Indiana turnovers into 28 points. Self thought it was Dick's best all-around game on Saturday, leading all scorers with 20 points along with six rebounds and five steals. This defensive intensity took pressure off the Jayhawks' offense, too, as they scored 22 points in transition.

"I thought our activity defensively was terrific," Self said. "17 steals against a good team, now granted their point guard [Xavier Johnson] got hurt, obviously, and that definitely hurt them. Our activity level was good. It was kind of a strange rotation out of our traps, and they made us pay a few times, but I thought the traps were more beneficial than what hurt us."

Indiana Hoosiers forward Miller Kopp (12) has his shot blocked by Kansas Jayhawks guard Gradey Dick (4) during the second half at Allen Fieldhouse / Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Throughout the game, Kansas sent double and triple-teams at Jackson-Davis, who entered the game averaging 16.8 points and 8.4 rebounds. This forced Jackson-Davis to either get rid of the ball quickly or take contested shots. He finished with 13 points, six rebounds, three turnovers and one assist. 

"It was a collective effort," McCullar said. "He's an All-American type player and we knew we would have to throw different looks at him. I was doubling a lot, leaving my man and Dajuan and Gradey were playing in the passing lanes picking stuff off, so trying to just make it hard on him."

Shutting Jackson-Davis down completely was impossible, as he made his presence felt on the defensive end. Jackson-Davis blocked nine shots on Saturday, which marked the most blocked shots by an opponent in Kansas program history. This broke Texas' Mo Bamba's previous record of eight blocked shots against Kansas on Dec. 29, 2017.

"I don't know that I've ever seen a player that I've coached against that's quicker off his feet than what Trayce is," Self said. "You're wide open and he blocks it from nowhere."

But when Jackson-Davis had to kick the ball out, Indiana made 6-of-19 3-point attempts, which Self viewed as a sign of defensive game-plan execution from the Jayhawks. 

"Their best offense there in the second half was when Trayce blocked a shot and it led to numbers, at least from the way I saw it," Self said. "It's hard to defend that, but when we played five-on-five, I thought our defense was the best it's been."

Knowing Indiana wanted to dump the ball inside to Jackson-Davis, Self prepared the Kansas defense to react as a whole.

"They shot 14 [3-pointers] in the first half, which is probably a good sign for us that they weren't getting what they wanted as much," Self said. "Because they definitely want to throw it inside. We didn't do anything special. We just respected a good player and tried to limit his touches."

Kansas still managed 50 points in the paint against Jackson-Davis, and the Jayhawks held Indiana to 37.7 percent shooting overall. Self was proud of Zuby Ejiofor's production off the bench on Saturday, especially in his matchup against Jackson-Davis and Malik Reneau.

Ejiofor, a 6-foot-9 freshman from Garland, Tex, scored eight points in 12 minutes of action, blowing away his previous season-high of three points against North Dakota State on Nov. 10. Self thought the opportunity to guard Jackson-Davis and the Indiana forwards inspired Ejiofor to turn his game up a notch.

"Zuby was great," Self said. "He did a good job on Trayce in the time he guarded him and he played big and set good screens and played to his athletic ability. I thought he played terrific."

Kansas held Indiana to 62 points on Saturday, marking the second-fewest point from an opponent this season behind Texas Southern's 55 on Nov. 28. And fortunately for Kansas, point guard Harris still sees room for improvement on the defensive end.

"We just played one of the best bigs in the country, so that was our main focus trying to slow him down," Harris said. "I feel like this is one of our best defensive games, and I feel like we could do better than we did today."

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