By halftime on Tuesday night, the Kansas men’s basketball team had made more 3-pointers — eight — than in all but one of its conference games last season.
Facing off against a lower-division Washburn squad, the new-look Jayhawks continued apace in the second half and gave the KU faithful a succinct demonstration of their outside-shooting potential in their final exhibition of the fall, taking down former KU assistant Brett Ballard’s Ichabods 84-53.
Addressing KU’s lack of 3-point shooting was one of Bill Self’s priorities in the offseason, and the Jayhawks, and most of all transfers David Coit, Rylan Griffen and Zeke Mayo, showed a willingness to fire away early and often.
“I thought it was good. I thought we defended better and then guys made some shots,” Self said. “It was good to see Zeke, Rylan and Diggy make some shots, because that’s what they’re here to do, and they were a little bit more aggressive shooting it.”
Case in point: Coit, who had been held scoreless at Arkansas on Friday, got the start over Mayo, missed a 3-pointer to open the game and then made one after an offensive rebound by Flory Bidunga. The Northern Illinois transfer took seven of KU’s first 12 shots and ended up with a team-high 19 points, including 5-for-10 shooting from deep. Mayo and Griffen were right there with him at 16 and 14.
In total, KU went 15-for-33 from beyond the arc. Both 15 and 33 would have been single-game highs last year.
“We took 33 of them, so that’s a great number for us considering we have a fair number of shooters out there on the floor at the same time,” Mayo said.
Added Self: “Seeing the ball go in the hole with, actually, people in the stands, I do think it helps. We weren’t great by any stretch, but when you have some good things happen, it’s so much easier for the next day to have more energy and look forward to it and that kind of stuff. I think the guys can watch this tape and also see we’re not that far off in some areas.”
Jack Bachelor scored a team-high 13 on 5-for-13 shooting for Washburn.
In the early going, after the Jayhawks got stuck on five points for a long time, Coit hit a second 3-pointer without hesitation, and AJ Storr hit another one the next time down to make it 11-2. By the six-minute mark, Coit had increased his total to 11 with a layup and a third 3 before taking a seat on the bench.
The lone debutant for the Jayhawks on Tuesday night, Griffen, sank a catch-and-shoot 3 of his own to put KU up 21-7 shortly after making his first appearance.
With the Jayhawks playing a bench-heavy lineup, Washburn had some success attacking freshman Flory Bidunga in the paint, but KU used 3s by Jamari McDowell and Griffen to maintain a similar margin.
KJ Adams scored back-to-back baskets to extend KU’s lead to 33-14 as the Ichabods went scoreless for more than four minutes prior to a 3-pointer by Bachelor. Bachelor also converted a three-point play through a foul by Zeke Mayo, and Tyson Ruud went to the baseline for a dunk to make 38-22. Washburn took that score into the break after the Jayhawks botched a play trying to set up a shot with five seconds remaining.
Griffen got the chance to start over Storr to open the second half and it paid off early, as he hit another 3-pointer to cap off an immediate 7-0 run by the Jayhawks. KU led by as many as 29 before Jacob Hanna finished strong in the paint through Dajuan Harris Jr.’s third foul.
The Jayhawks really began to assert themselves just short of midway through the half, particularly in a stretch that saw Mayo hit back-to-back 3s, one off a steal by Storr and the other from a slick assist by Coit. By the under-12 timeout they had gone up 70-29, only to slow down considerably afterward during a 10-3 run by the Ichabods, culminating in a 3 by Bachelor.
Walk-on Wilder Evers entered with just over three minutes remaining and was joined soon after by Patrick Cassidy and Justin Cross, a period during which Washburn scored seven straight once again to conclude the game.
The Jayhawks will open their season officially against Howard on Monday at 7 p.m.
Nick Krug
