Hawking Points: Kansas Offense Pounces Cougars in 78-65 Win

The Jayhawks put up the most points by a Cougars’ opponent all year.

In just the second time as home underdogs under Bill Self, the Kansas Jayhawks played 40 minutes of dominant basketball in a wire-to-wire win over No. 4 Houston, 78-65.

Key Plays

With Allen Fieldhouse hitting 127 deciles at tip, Houston quieted the crowd with an alley-oop on the first possession but KJ Adams immediately answered with a hard drive and then found Hunter Dickinson for a hook shot to go up 4-2. Dickinson was a force early, scoring four of the first six for KU. Adams brought the ball up and found Kevin McCullar for a corner three and all of a sudden the Jayhawks went up 9-4. Another stop and a Dickinson jumper made it 11-4 and Allen was bumping.

Jamal Shead answered but then Adams found Dajuan Harris for an opposite corner three. Furphy then got into the action and Kansas led 16-8 at the first media timeout. KU continued its hot start with Furphy knocking down a three to go up 19-10 but then turned it over on multiple possessions. Amazing ball movement led to a Adams baseline slam and gave KU its largest lead at 23-11 with Houston calling a timeout.

After a back-and-forth five minutes with missed shots and fouls, Shead blew a wide-open layup and Furphy was fouled on a three on the other end. Adams again took it hard and finished without a foul call and then McCullar stole a pass and slammed it. Kansas led 30-15 with 7:39 left.

Two Kansas turnovers and two Houston threes cut it to nine quickly but Furphy answered with his own three and 10th point. After an Adams rebound, a cutting Furphy drew an and-one but missed the free throw. Furphy then threw down another dunk on a fast break from Adams for a personal 7-0 run and a 16-point lead. Harris finished at the rim and McCullar got a rebound and putback with three seconds left but he stepped out. Still, KU took a 43-28 lead to the half.

McCullar opened the second half with a clear-out jumper on the first possession. After a Houston miss and broken play, McCullar was wide open for a layup again. Cougars defenders got tangled again with McCullar and Dickinson had an easy put-in. Two minutes in and KU extended the lead to 19.

Houston trimmed it to 13 on a couple of threes and then Dickinson was fouled on a goaltend at the end of a fast break. Jackson then found Adams for an alley-oop after a great defensive stop. KU forced a shot clock violation and Dickinson scored down low to go up 20.

The Cougars scored four straight before Jackson skied for an offensive rebound and hit a turnaround jumper. LJ Cryer made Kansas pay for two turnovers with a pair of threes and a lead that suddenly was 12 with 9:07 to play. After a timeout, Harris hit a floater. Again, Cryer cut it to 12 and Furphy nailed a three. Cryer again made a three and then Parker Braun drained one from the top of the key. Cryer went nuclear and buried another three to make it 10 at 68-58. Braun then got fouled and swished both. A Dickinson spin move made it 72-58 at the under-four media timeout.

Kansas had an answer every time. With a lead of 11, Adams found a cutting McCullar for a reverse layup. Cryer airballed a three and Kansas grabbed the rebound with 1:15 left. Dickinson missed an end-of-shot-clock hook but McCullar soared in for the weak-side rebound and flush to seal the game.

Eye-Catching Stat Lines

It wasn’t just that Kansas was hot shooting the ball, the Jayhawks were efficient but taking high-level shots. KU was 68% from the field and 50% from three (4-8) in the first 20 minutes with 12 assists on 17 field goals. That continued in the second half and Kansas ended hitting 31-45 from the field (69%) and 6-13 from three.

This was the first game Houston gave up more than 70 points in regulation as Kansas dropped 78. Houston, meanwhile, only shot 36% from the field and was 9-29 from three.

Dickson was KU’s leading scorer with 20 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists. The posts were dominant as Adams was everywhere as well, scoring 10 points with four rebounds and a team-high seven assists. Furphy had one of his best games of the year with 17 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.

In his return, McCullar scored 17 on 7-8 shooting and seven rebounds, but he also had five turnovers. Adams took some of Harris’ assists but he still had two with seven points, three rebounds, and a block.

Cryer single-handedly kept Houston in the game with 24 points on 6-12 from three.

Areas of Improvement

This wasn’t a perfect game, but the rebounding, defense, and scoring was as good as we’ve seen this year. The lone weakness was turnovers, as Kansas gave it up 18 times, with some of them just being bad passes out of bounds. Though Houston is the best turnover-forcing defense in the country. A few of them were also when players second-guessed taking an open shot and instead threw it away.

Takeaways

When Kansas shoots and rebounds like this, there might not be anyone in the country that beat Kansas. The ball moved well and while Houston settled for low-percentage jumpers, Kansas got to the basket time and again. Furphy in the starting lineup was excellent and KU got enough from its bench to steal minutes. Kansas had its best week of play this year at a much-needed time.