Manhattan – On Monday night, the Jayhawks lost 75-70 in overtime to Kansas State, but struggled offensively. The Jayhawks made just 3-of-15 3-pointers that night and missed several key opportunities.
“The problem is, guys, we're not good enough that we can't execute and we can't play smart,” head coach Bill Self said. “When you go on the road, you have to make free throws and you have to do a lot. You have to take advantage of your chances, and we didn't do that enough.”
The Jayhawks had a lot of points against the Wildcats. Perhaps most notable was Kevin McCuller's 1-of-5 shooting from the free throw line. That included missing the front end deep on a one-on-one in overtime that could have tied the game. At the beginning of the season, McCuller had a streak of 22 consecutive free throws, but has since slumped.
Although he made the free throw, there were many other missed opportunities that the team could not capitalize on.
“We didn't take advantage of the opportunities we were given,” Self said. “[Dajuan Harris] under throw hunter [Dickinson] Parker, the uncontested layup. [Braun] When he threw a high-low pass in a wide open position, it went wide and Kevin missed a layup at the end of the first half. He gets 4 points for a question that would not have asked the same question. ”
Harris scored 15 points and had eight assists for the Jayhawks. Before the Kansas State game, the only loss in which Kansas scored more than 10 points was last season's loss to Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament.
The man who had the most uncharacteristic night in attack was Jonny Furphy. Since he started, he had been scoring in double digits every game, but against the Wildcats he scored just four points.
“His books have grown because of his past successes,” Self said of Furphy.
The team is starting to pick up on that trend as they see more and more footage of him. But Self isn't worried about the long term.
“He's obviously a good player and has a great future. We need him to be an offensive threat for us, and I think he was one of those players today,” Self said. said.
Furphy's teammates believe more can be done to get him involved in the offense, as he hasn't had many opportunities to show off his athleticism.
“I feel like they were faster in shutouts with him,” Dickinson said. “Like the coach said earlier, they're going to adjust how they guard him. I think teams realize he's a really good catch-and-shoot player, so he I think we have to try to adapt to that as a team because he's more than a spot-up shooter. We have to be able to utilize his talent on the field.”
