In a game that ended in two opportunities for Baylor to send the game to overtime, a little Allen Fieldhouse magic helped Kansas basketball come out on top at home, 64-61.
It was all Kansas basketball most of the game, but a late run by Baylor allowed them to force an extra five minutes. They missed an open three and then fouled Nick Timberlake. Timberlake missed the front end of the 1 and 1, and Baylor once again couldn’t hit the game-tying shot.
Kevin McCullar and Jamari McDowell were ruled out before the game, but the Jayhawks had just enough to get it done. Read below for the three takeaways from this game.
Takeaway #1: Baylor’s turnover problems the difference maker
Baylor hasn’t been the best at taking care of the ball in general, averaging 11.8 turnovers per game, 157th best in the country. On Saturday night, they had 21. Yes, you read that right, 21 turnovers. The backcourt of RayJ Dennis and JaKobe Water accounted for 11 of those, and Kansas was able to turn that into 11 fastbreak points. Yes, it’s a tough environment, but having that many turnovers in a game will rarely result in a win. The Bears will need to prioritize this if they want to make any noise in the upcoming month.
Takeaway #2: Kansas’ depth remains an issue
The bench has been an issue all year, but on Saturday it was cut even thinner when Kevin McCullar and Jamari McDowell were ruled out before the game. This forced Nick Timberlake and Elmarko Jackson to step up and deliver valuable minutes.
Nick added a few threes, but Elmarko added nothing on the offensive end, finishing with zero shot attempts in 21 minutes. Parker Braun was the only other guy off the bench besides Elmarko, and he contributed just 2 points, 1 rebound, and 2 fouls in the 8 minutes he played. Someone needs to step up, and hopefully, these extended minutes give Nick another confidence boost.
Takeaway #3: DaJuan Harris should be this aggressive every game
As mentioned earlier, McCullar was out, meaning people needed to step up. Harris did just that, scoring 14 points, including several big-time shots in the second half. He shot 5-12, and made two threes in this one, a key reason why Kansas was able to succeed with McCullar’s absence. That was tied for the most shot attempts in a game this season with the Kentucky game (remember that one?).
Obviously, Dajuan’s primary role is to facilitate the offense, but if he can start to become a scoring option for the Jayhawks, not only will that keep the defenses guessing so they aren’t assuming he’s passing on every drive, but it can lead to a higher ceiling for the Jayhawks like we saw tonight.
Next for Kansas: at Texas Tech (Mon., Feb. 12 – 9 p.m.)
Next for Baylor: at Oklahoma (Tues., Feb. 13 – 9 p.m.)
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