The Jayhawks get a much needed home game sandwiched in between a bad loss at West Virginia and a tough incoming game at Iowa St. Tonight they’ll face a pretty decent Cincinnati team coming to Allen Fieldhouse on Big Monday. Not all of us are celebrating the Chief’s win, so we really need this one. Oh, and we’re on Taylor and Travis watch tonight too.
UC Defense
While the KU offense has looked pretty good recently, they will have a tough challenge going against the Cincinnati defense, ranked 22nd in Kenpom. They’ve held 2 of the top offenses, BYU and Baylor, to their season low in points, both games on the road for the Bearcats. They don’t usually force a ton of turnovers like UCF, but they’re sound guarding the ball and don’t foul or give up too many free throws. They foul only 14 times per game, which is 21st in the nation, but that number jumps up to 16.8 fouls per game on the road. Another reason for UC’s stifling defense is their two tall, international shot blockers down low. Viktor Lakhin (Russia, 6’11) had 5 blocks against Oklahoma on Saturday and Baziz Bandoago (Senegal, 7’0) averages 1.5 blocks per game and was #3 in blocks nationally last season for UVU. Along with the blocks, these guys contribute to Cincinnati’s biggest strength overall, which is rebounding. Lakhin grabs 7.5 boards (2.9 offensive) and while Bandaogo pulls down 8 per game (2 offensive). The Jayhawks struggled with this exact thing on Saturday, so I’m curious to see if they can respond against an elite rebounding team. The KU frontcourt has allowed Ibrahima Diallo, Brandon Garrison, and Pat Suemnick to all have better than average games recently. Lakhin clears all of them though and there is no break when Bandaogo comes on either, so it will be interesting to see how Dickinson and Adams respond.
X Factor Guards
College Basketball guru Jon Rothstein recently tweeted out “Day Day Thomas=Star in the Big 12” and I can’t disagree. While he started the conference slate slow, shooting 1-14 over his first two games, he had 15 points in a close loss to Baylor, and poured in 21 in their overtime win over TCU. What makes him a star though is more his passing and playmaking. He’ll get plenty of assists and steals, and will usually avoid turnovers, although he had 7 against BYU, so that could be something to exploit. He’s not the most efficient shooter, but there always seems to be one opposing player who has a career day from deep against KU anyway.
The other X factor for Cincy is sophomore Dan Skillings Jr. He’s a bit like Dajuan Harris in that Cincinnati is 13-1 when he scores in double figures. He stands out as a better shooter and scorer than Thomas, but also remains very streaky, partly due to the streaky minutes he gets. He went 7 straight games without a 3, but also has 2 games of going 4-6 from deep. The mission seems simple for the Jayhawks: don’t let him score 10+. He’s a taller guard at 6’6 and has an even bigger wingspan pushing 7 feet, so watch for Cincinnati to take advantage of KU’s “switch everything” defense to match him up with shorter guards as opposed to McCullar or Adams.
Viktor Lakhin
While the guards remain the X factors for Cincinnati, Lakhin is their beacon of consistency that helps them withstand tough stretches and keeps them in a lot of games. He’s scored in double figures 12 times this season and is probably the best big man KU has faced since Ware and Reneau of Indiana. Lakhin will get 13+ points, grab some boards, and pass to the open teammates when doubled too. If he really gets going, the Jayhawks should look to foul and put him at the line, as he’s a career 55% shooter from the stripe.
Other
The Bearcats are super deep (no one averages more than 28 minutes per game) so we could go on and on. Some can shoot, some can defend, some do who knows what. But one more the Jayhawks should be ready for is John Newman III. Now in his sixth year overall (missed last year because of injury) there is a lot to admire about his toughness and the way he plays. He leads Cincy in minutes and is described as the heart and soul of the team. He’ll make his presence known whether making shots or not, making a lot of plays that won’t show up on the box score.