In a postgame video shared by the official Twitter account of the Kansas men’s basketball program, head coach Bill Self opted to award both Dajuan Harris Jr. and Kevin McCullar Jr. as the players of the game following a 87-71 win over Baylor on Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse.
“That dude and that dude right there,” Self said, taking the time to point at both Harris and McCullar. “The way they guarded in the second half, you talk about locking guys up. That right there gives us a whole different dimension.”
proud team win ???? pic.twitter.com/mrhIrn9Qk7
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) February 19, 2023
After a miserable first half and facing a 13-point halftime deficit, the 5th-ranked Jayhawks (22-5, 10-4 Big 12) flipped the script in the second half, outscoring No. 9 Baylor by a 55-26 margin over the final 20 minutes. And the defensive play by KU’s top-two defenders against the best backcourt in the country was the biggest reason for the team’s double-digit comeback victory.
“Dajuan Harris and Kevin McCullar, they set the tone defensively,” Self told reporters after the game.
Baylor guards Keyonte George, Adam Flagler, and LJ Cryer were responsible for the first 42 points for the visitors, who jumped out to a 45-32 advantage at the break. They shot 15-for-27 from the floor, including 8-of-13 from long range, in the first half.
KU adjusted at halftime, telling Harris and McCullar to fight through ball screens instead of passing their assignment off via a switch. They stuck with Flagler and Cryer, who combined to score just 10 second-half points on 4-for-12 shooting. George was held to five points on a 2-of-7 shooting effort, as well.
“Coach made me and Kev stay on their two best guards and not switch off of them,” Harris said. “We just had to lock down and everybody else did their job by rebounding.”
In the first meeting between these two teams, Baylor took advantage of KU’s switches during the 75-69 BU win down in Waco, Texas. The Bears often picked on Gradey Dick and KJ Adams after the switch, scoring 17 points on 16 shot attempts out of isolation. According to Synergy Sports Technology, it marked Baylor’s most isolations in a game since 2011.
With Kansas switching everything last night, Baylor took 16 shot attempts out of isolations — the most Baylor iso’s in a game since 2011
Baylor scored 17 points on those possessions pic.twitter.com/7YMHzJTQXo
— Jordan Sperber (@hoopvision68) January 24, 2023
Scott Drew’s Bears employed a similar strategy in Saturday’s first half, which allowed the guards to get going. Eleven of Baylor’s 15 isolation plays came in the first half, per Synergy, and it resulted in a total of 13 points for the game.
But once Harris and McCullar stuck with their assignments in the second half, Baylor’s offense came to a screeching halt. The Bears, who ranked No. 1 in adjusted offensive efficiency entering the weekend, were held to 0.743 points per possession in the second half after recording 1.406 points per possession in the first half.
“(We were told to) guard the 3-point line,” Harris said. “We had to start hedging the ball screen and we had to start trapping too. Coach did an amazing adjustment and we just followed behind.”
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PHOTO GALLERY: Kansas basketball vs. Baylor
Box score: Kansas 87, Baylor 71
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Kansas might have opted to trust its two best defenders sooner, had it not been for both Harris and McCullar suffering ankle injuries earlier in the week against Oklahoma State. Self noted that McCullar, in particular, wasn’t 100% in Saturday’s win.
“That was one thing I was nervous about playing that way because I didn’t think Dajuan can play 40 minutes that way,” Self said. “So it was probably better for us, even though it sucked in the first half, to play the way we did from a tactical standpoint to allow us to have enough energy to finish the game.”
“Five more minutes and we would have been wasted,” Self added.
Assuming the Jayhawks can get healthy going into March, Saturday’s win was important because it proved what they can do on the defensive end when they are locked in.
For much of the season, Kansas has been switching on ball screens out of necessity. Self hasn’t been pleased with his team’s ball-screen defense, even though KU ranks 15th in the country in adjusted efficiency on that end of the floor.
Now it remains to be seen if the Jayhawks can limit another explosive backcourt in TCU on Monday. The Horned Frogs just put up 100 points in Mike Miles’ first game back in the lineup.
“We just played against the three best guards in the country,” Harris said. “We can learn from that against TCU on Monday, because they got some good guards too and we just gotta take that forward.”
Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. at Ed & Rae Schollmaier Arena.
