The Wolfpack doesn’t have the firepower to keep up with the Jayhawks
Game Summary:
The start of the first half was exactly what we feared most. Nobody could hit a shot, Middlebrooks missed 1 shot, Styles 3, Hill 2, and O’Connell missed 1. At the same time, Kansas hit 3 2-pointers and 3 3PT shots and went up 15-0. At the 14:20 point, Styles finally hit a 3PT and we kept it within about 10 points for the remainder of the half. Kansas shot 7-15 (46.7%) from 3PT in the half. The halftime lead was Kansas 38-30. The one bright spot was the Pack tied Kansas 16-16 in the first half rebounding.
Coming out of halftime, the Pack had its only real chance to make it close in the first two minutes. Kansas missed 4 consecutive 3PT shots, but at the same time the Wolfpack missed 3 short jumpers. Kansas then hit a layup and a free throw to make it 30-41 forcing Coach Keatts to call a time out. From that point, we cut the deficit to 9 twice and 7 once but spent most of the half down at least 10. We guarded the 3PT line better in the second half, the Jayhawks only hit 3-9. Kansas dominated the boards 20-10 in the second half. Final score, Kansas 75-60.
Overall Takeaways:
- We played Huntley-Hatfield and Middlebrooks together and they did well. Together they had 26 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals
- We shot a respectable 40% from 3PT, unfortunately our FG% was 37%.
- We protected the ball well – Only 8 turnovers
- We did not guard the 3PT line well – Kansas hit 10-24 (41.7%)
- Rebounding continues to be a problem – Kansas outrebounded the Pack by 10, 36-26
- Scoring is still hard to come by – We did not score more than 61 points against any of our 4 P4 OOC opponents
Keatts Comments
Individual Highlights
- Ben Middlebrooks led the team in scoring and rebounding, and had 2 steals
- Brandon Huntley-Hatfield was second in scoring, led the team with 3 assists, and also had 2 steals
- Styles (30%), Hill (27.2%) and O’Connell (16.6%) had bad shooting nights