Kansas Rallies Past Florida: Four Factors

The Kansas Jayhawks moved to 6-1 with a furious second half comeback that resulted in a 71-65 win over Florida on Friday night. The Gators led by 18 points with 16:43 remaining in the game, but renewed effort from the Kansas defense contributed to a 16-0 run that would give the Jayhawks an eight point lead with 3:19 remaining. Kansas was led by sophomore Wayne Selden who broke out of an offensive slump that spanned the Orlando Classic by scoring 21 points on 15 shot attempts. Selden was effective from all areas of the floor, knocking down three shots at the rim and a slew of jumpers.

Kansas fans should maintain some perspective about Selden’s performance given how he scored a number of his points. Against Florida, Selden hit four of his five 2-point jump shots after having connected on only four of his first 20 such shots this season. The long 2-point shot is the bane of many basketball commentators because it is only slightly more likely to go in than a 3-point shot and is worth one less point. Thus, it would be better if Selden decided to pull up from behind the arc rather than shoot the long 2-pointer. However, it is nice that Selden is developing a go to move with his left hand. Against the Gators, he frequently went left with one or two hard dribbles before pulling up for the jump shot. This is similar to how Andrew Wiggins developed his left hand game last season. Here you can see Selden make the move on an inbounds play by taking two hard dribbles to the left, then stepping back to create space.

The second offensive component that contributed to the Kansas victory was the Jayhawks’ ability to get to the free throw line. Free throw rate–the number of free throws shot per 100 field goal attempts–has become a common theme in game recaps this season, but it is nearly impossible to overemphasize the importance of foul shots to the Kansas offense. The Jayhawks are scoring a full 30.0 percent of their points from foul shots this season. Kansas fell behind in the first half, in part, because of their inability to get to the line. After shooting only eight free throws in the first half, they were able to get to the line 24 times in the second. The Jayhawks outscored Florida 27-7 from the foul line in the game. Cliff Alexander (8-for-8) and Devonte’ Graham (9-for-10) led the team. Yes, some of these numbers are skewed by the Gators’ intentional fouls at the end of the game, but Kansas also scored half of their points during their 16-0 run from the free throw line.

While the Kansas offense improved in the second half, perhaps the most important factor in the comeback was the success of the Kansas defense in the final 16:43. The Jayhawks outscored Florida 44-20 to close out the game and prior to hitting their last four shots, the Gators shot 3-for-18 from the field starting at 16:43 mark. This second half shooting performance provides a stark contrast to the first 20 minutes of the game during which Florida shot a 60.7 percent effective field goal percentage. The Gators converted on 11 of their 15 2-point attempts in the first half largely because of their ability to get into the lane, something Bill Self highlighted in his postgame comments, “Our plan was going to go under ball screens in the first half on those two little guards, but we really didn’t do it.  Our ball screen defense was horrendous. Then we tried switching everything and that didn’t work great.” The penetration also contributed to open 3-point looks. In the following snippet, you can see Graham going under the screen, which puts Jamari Traylor in a 1-on-1 scenario. He gets beat by Kasey Hill, forcing Perry Ellis to help off his man, and leaving Michael Frazier II open to knock down the 3-pointer.

Self made a pair of half time adjustments by playing Frank Mason III and Graham together and changing up the ball screen defense a bit to limit the ability of the Gator guards to get into the lane int eh second half. Kansas also improved their defensive turnover rate in the second half, turning Florida over on 22.2 percent of their second half possessions. That led to offense for the Jayhawks who scored 14 points off of eight second half turnovers.

The furious Kansas comeback certainly provided excitement for Jayhawk fans who likely spent most of their first half screaming at their TV screens. It’s easy to forget the dreadful play of that first 20 minutes in such excitement. Sam Vecenie of CBS Sports noted on Twitter that the win wasn’t a “great performance” for Kansas given the 18 point deficit to a Florida team with only seven scholarship players available. However, the comeback is still a learning experience for the Jayhawks and their fans. It revealed, according to Self, that the team is “probably a little tougher” than what he thought they were and it also taught the Jayhawks, again to quote Self, “no matter what the situation is, it’s a long game.” Perhaps, then, the lesson for those worrying about Kansas ought to be that it’s a long season. Despite their early struggles, Kansas has a roster filled with talented players that is led by one of the best coaches in the college game. The money should be on them to figure it out before March rolls around.

If you enjoyed this content, be sure to follow Chris on Twitter. This post originally appeared on Ain’t No Seats.