Thursday, February 14, 2008
Their reactions to the news were almost celebratory.
Kansas had just scored 100 points in a victory against Baylor without making a three-pointer.
“Unbelievable,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “I can’t imagine that.”
KANSAN FILE PHOTO Junior guard Mario Chalmers shooting a three-pointer during the men's basketball game at Texas Feb. 11, 2008.
Sherron Collins certainly wasn’t bothered.
“The game was going so fast we didn’t realize,” he said.
The inability to shoot three pointers didn’t seem so amazing two days later, when the Jayhawks struggled with their outside shots again in Monday night’s loss to Texas. The loss highlighted a glaring problem: Kansas has been in a shooting slump from the perimeter in its last two games.
The Jayhawks made zero of nine three-pointers against Baylor and four of 17 against Texas (15 percent in the two games combined). Guards Collins, Russell Robinson, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush have made only 27 of 66 total field goals (40 percent) in those games.
Because of their inability to shoot the ball, Kansas has done the majority of its scoring with free throws and points in the paint. Of the 169 points the Jayhawks have scored the last two games, 137 of them have come from those two areas.
An offense dependent on inside scoring can work as long as the post players get the ball. That didn’t happen in the second half against Texas on Monday. After scoring 25 points in the first half, Darrell Arthur and Darnell Jackson only scored 10 after intermission.
The guards had to pick up the slack, and they didn’t. Chalmers missed six shots, including four three-pointers. Rush and Collins each made one of three field goals. Robinson missed his only shot attempt. With the guards missing from the outside and hesitant to shoot the ball, the offense stalled. After scoring 42 points in the first half, the Jayhawks put up just 27 in the second half.
“We just missed a lot of open shots,” Chalmers said. “We had the looks. We just couldn’t knock them down.”
The recent decline in shooting from the guards is a bit surprising, as earlier this season they shot much better. The four guards had been shooting 44 percent from the field before the Baylor game and 40 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
These statistics show that the last two games could be an anomaly. Good shooters can go through bad streaks. Still, this isn’t a problem the Jayhawks can take lightly.
If the guards continue to struggle from the outside, Kansas’ offense becomes highly one-dimensional. The Jayhawks have to go inside when the guards are missing, and the Longhorns showed that a good team can shut down the low post offense. For Kansas to regain its spot near the top of the polls and to contend for the Big 12 title, Chalmers, Rush, Robinson and Collins all need to regain the shooting form they showcased for most of the season.
“It’s very wide open,” Chalmers said about the conference. “We just have to keep playing our ball and keep being focused.”
They also might want to make their open jump shots again.
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
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