Hawking Points: Shorthanded Kansas Lays an Egg in Lubbock

Self got tossed and the Jayhawks got steamrolled against Texas Tech.

Just like Saturday, the Kansas Jayhawks were without Kevin McCullar out with a knee injury and Jamari McDowell with an illness. This one did not go nearly as well as Texas Tech dominated from start to finish.

Key Plays

Texas Tech can get hot from three and that was the case to start the game in Lubbock. The Red Raiders buried their first three triples while Kansas started 1-5 from the field to take an early 12-4 lead. Johnny Furphy had all four KU points on two free throws and a dunk.

KJ Adams got KU back into the game after a couple of defensive stops, throwing down an alley-oop from Dajuan Harris and knocking down two free throws. Parker Braun rejected a shot coming in for Dickinson and then Harris finished a circus layup under Texas Tech big Warren Washington to get down just 12-10.

Juan fancy with it 🥶#LevelUp x @DajuanH10 pic.twitter.com/YWJrBU2KFB

— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) February 13, 2024

An offensive foul on Pop Isaacs led to Jackson sinking a jumper to tie the game. Texas Tech got cold from the field after the hot start, but hit its fourth three thanks to Kerwin Walton to retake the lead after the under-12 timeout. Harris missed a shot and Isaacs made the fifth three (in eight attempts) in 10 minutes. Furphy’s second dunk stopped the run. Then three number six made it 21-14. Thirty seconds later, three number seven and Tech got up 10. The Red Raiders would hit an eighth (in 12 tries) before the six-minute mark of the first half.

The Tech lead got to 15 (31-16) before Nick Timberlake hit a corner three in transition. Adams and Dickinson were a combined 2-14 in the half as the guards carried the scoring, though not well. Timberlake hit a second three to cut the lead to 10 in the final minute of the first half. Harris knocked down one of two free throws to get it back to single digits and go into the half 37-28.

Instead of cutting into the lead further, Tech dominated the first four minutes of the second half, expanding the lead to 14. Darrion Williams hit his fourth three in four tries and the halftime deficit was suddenly doubled. Kansas went five minutes in between baskets.

Dickinson hit a jumper and Furphy his first three to get down 15 with eight minutes left but it was much too little, too late. Bill Self had seen enough and was thrown out of the game with two technicals with 5:49 left in the game. It was his first time in 21 years at KU being ejected from a game.

Eye-Catching Stat Lines

Texas Tech made eight of 14 threes (57.1%) in the first half and 14-26 overall while Kansas really struggled at 34.6% from the field and 2-7 from three. The free-throw line was what kept the Jayhawks in it early, as KU hit 8-9 in the first half to Tech’s 1-5.

KU’s three biggest pieces playing in the game (Dickinson, Adams, and Harris) went a combined 3-19 in the first half for nine points. It didn’t get much better in the second half. That trio went 5-30 from the field for the game and Harris was the leader of those scorers with seven. Dickinson and Adams each had five.

Timberlake was tied for KU’s leading scorer at 13 with Furphy. Jackson also had seven.

Areas of Improvement

If we wanted, this section could be longer than the positives. KU looked slower, less interested, and unable to finish anything. Timberlake started the game being lost on the perimeter, Dickinson was getting beaten in the post, and no one could hit a shot.

One of the biggest bafflers was the fact that Texas Tech doesn’t grab many offensive rebounds and gives up a ton and yet Kanas only had XX to the Red Raiders XX.

Kansas didn’t even turn it over much, it just couldn’t make a shot to save its life while Texas Tech was much more licked in.

Takeaways

The deck was stacked against KU with another road game on short rest after a touch home matchup and missing two players. Still, this was a brutal performance by those left in the game. Harris was clearly not 100% and gets a pass here, but to have both Dickinson and Adams play their worst offensive games of the year while giving up a ton of threes was a recipe for disaster. Kansas has to get healthy sooner than later. Thankfully it is about to have two games in the next 12 days.