Moments That Popped: No. 11 Kansas 54, Cincinnati 40

For the second game in a row, the 11th-ranked Kansas men’s basketball team dominated the second half with defense en route to picking up a big road win at Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday’s 54-40 win over the Bearcats did not follow the exact same recipe as the one the Jayhawks used to beat Arizona State on Wednesday night, but there were plenty of similarities.

Lockdown defense. Clutch plays. Low turnover numbers. All of it resulting in the Jayhawks’ third win in a row in Big 12 play and second road win of the conference season.

That second number is significant because it matches KU’s conference road win total from all of last season.

After holding ASU to just 13 points in the second half on Wednesday, the Jayhawks gave up just 15 second-half points to Cincinnati on Saturday.

The win marked No. 600 at Kansas for KU coach Bill Self, who is now 600-146 in his 22 seasons at KU and 807-251 all-time in his coaching career.

Next up, KU (12-3 overall, 3-1 Big 12) will travel north to Ames, Iowa, for a showdown with the country’s No. 3-ranked team in Iowa State.

After three straight wins in Ames from 2020-2022, the Jayhawks have dropped their last two games at Hilton Coliseum.

Here’s a look back at some of Saturday’s action in Cincinnati.

LIKES

• Closer’s mentality – Inside the final 5 minutes, the Jayhawks didn’t budge. KU ripped off a 14-0 run but also limited the Bearcats to one shot and done on most of its trips in the final 5 minutes and really frustrated Cincinnati on both ends. KU senior Zeke Mayo played a huge role in a lot of this, first finishing a tough bucket at the rim through contact and following that up by immediately jumping a full-court pitch-ahead pass and grabbing a steal. That steal turned into a lob from Mayo to Shak Moore, who elevated, flushed it and then screamed much like he did on Wednesday night against Arizona State. It wasn’t pretty most of the way, but the close was exactly the kind of ball that Self absolutely loves.

• Offensive rebounding surge – One way to take some of the pain away from a bad shooting day is by getting on the offensive glass. KU did that very well on Saturday, particularly in the early going of the second half, when the Jayhawks found a way to grab the lead and never looked back. Multiple Jayhawks got an offensive rebound during that first few minutes of the second half, none more notable than KJ Adams, who finished the day with 7 boards overall, including 5 on the offensive glass. KU won the offensive rebounding battle 15-12, thanks in large part to the start of the 2nd half.

• Storr gets an early crack – His 3 minutes on the court in Wednesday’s win over Arizona State led many to wonder/believe/expect that AJ Storr might not be getting any more chances any time soon. But KU coach Bill Self gave him a shot midway through the first half of Saturday’s game, and Storr fared better in his first few minutes on the floor in this one than he did in the game against ASU. In fact, he hit a turn-around jumper in the lane just moments after checking in and late in the half made a great back cut to the rim that led to a pair of free throws. In the first half alone, he more than doubled his playing time from his most recent time out. He then checked into the game during the first media timeout to open the second half, though that stint was less pleasing to the eye and featured a couple of forced up air balls and his last time on the floor in this one. Attitude good. Game improving? Perhaps. In related news, Storr’s 4 points against the Bearcats moved him to 999 for his career.

• Creating transition – I really liked the way KU loked to get to its transition game even without setting up the full-court pressure and after Cincinnati misses. There weren’t a ton of opportunities to do this, but it was good to see them searching for them and taking advantage. It was especially important because of KU’s struggles in its half-court offense. There were far too many hiccups there, be them turnovers or sloppy play, and when KU got good looks in the first half, they missed a lot of them. Just another reason I think transition will continue to be an important part of this team’s offense and scoring prowess as the season rolls along.

DISLIKES

• KU defense not dictating in the first half – For at least the first 12-15 minutes of this game, the Cincinnati offense got pretty much whatever looks it wanted. In transition. In half-court sets. And off of KU mistakes. That changed significantly in the second half, when the KU defense was dominant yet again. So, the key now will be to see if KU can find a way to start these games on the defensive end the way they’ve played in the second half. There’s a natural order to things that makes that tougher to do, and a feeling-out process that is required before a defense can really settle in. But if this team can find a way to start that way instead of saving it for the second half, they’re going to be a really, really tough out.

• Adams’ wasted opportunities – It really drew the ire of KU fans late in the loss to West Virginia, but it showed up again early in the second half on Saturday. After picking up a steal off of a deflection from playing the passing lane at the top of the key, Adams grabbed the loose ball and raced to the other end looking to make a play. One problem. He didn’t have numbers. And he’s not skilled enough offensively to go get a bucket on his own in most situations like that. Especially against a guard, who can move quick enough to stay in front of Adams. The thought in those moments was obviously that he would use his strength and power and size to find his way to the rim. But the guard defended it well and made it a tough shot away from the basket, which allowed the other defender to come over and block the shot. You like to applaud the aggressive mindset and the steal, but KU would’ve been so much better off if Adams had waited for reinforcements and allowed the offense to run something. Especially in a game like Saturday’s, when the Jayhakws weren’t shooting great and needed every basket they could get.

• The receipe for Rylan Griffen – The Alabama transfer has looked so good in recent games, largely because he has stayed within himself and kept his attack to things in his wheelhouse. On Saturday, at least in the early going, Griffen looked a little out of sorts whenever he tried to take too much on and make plays that weren’t there — for himself and others. The Jayhawks want (and need) him to be aggressive. So, he’ll almost never be criticized for taking open shots and attacking the rim. But he has to find those moments in flow and within the rhythm of the offense, which is something Self had praised him for in recent weeks. He did a better job of that in the second half, so there’s hope that the first half was just kind of a fluke in a stretch of good basketball by Griffen.

WHAT THE?

• Legs, legs, legs – There were times during this one, when KU struggled mightily on the offensive end, when it looked like the Jayhawks walked to Cincinnati and their legs were dead tired. So many of their misses — particularly from the outside — were either off the front of the rim or fell short of hitting anything altogether. It’s not often that 35% shooting and 54 points is going to win you a game on the road. And it did easily in this one. That’s thanks in large part to the KU defense and 31% shooting by Cincinnati. It’s worth remembering here that, if you’ve got to pick to have your legs on defense or on offense, Self is always going to take the better defensive effort.

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