Silvio And Malik
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Delgado was an exceptional rebounder. He exploited Lightfoot and others. His advantage was well noted before the game because of Doke’s injury.
Thomas is the best rebounder on Clemson and pulls in 8 a game overall, 2 offensive boards a game FYI. Nobody else even averages 1 a game.
Clemson as a team is 259th in the country in offensive rebounding, KU gets more offensive rebounds then they do by a good margin.
A big key to the game will be how many minutes Azubuike can play without fouling. It sounds like they are expecting him to start and play closer to 30 minutes if he’s smart and isn’t dead tired.
They are a guard heavy team since the injury to their best player who’s out for the season.
KU is considerably better in almost every offensive statistic compared to Clemson. We have no idea if Clemson’s hot shooting against Auburn carries on or not. Their stats would say they will regress closer to their mean which isn’t very good.
Clemson has survived all year on good defense (top 30 in points per game). They are 8th in the country in 2pt FG% defense but 178th in 3pt FG % and 209th in 3pt FG’s given up. We all know KU’s strength is perimeter shooting which is a big weakness KU can exploit. They don’t foul a ton and don’t get steals so its interesting that Clemson has defended as well as they have. I think the numbers don’t tell the whole story. This team is just 9-6 since Donte Grantham went down with an injury.
This is a game KU can win considerably easier then some may think if they play well
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I agree. On paper, we should move on. But it’s March and it’s all about who is hot, and who is not.
Question is: just how much “hotness” do we need to beat Clemson?
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Absolutely.
Honestly I don’t think KU has to play any better then they did against Seton Hall to win.
We shot the ball extremely well in the 2nd half and needed to because Seton Hall kept fighting. This was all while our Senior Leader had an off shooting game and our starting C was playing only 3-4 minutes at a time due to injury/foul trouble. We were beaten up on the boards and yet still controlled the game.
However as you said this is the Sweet 16 and we just don’t know what’s going to happen in this situation. In the past Self teams have done extremely well in this round, Self always game-plans well and the players seem to execute with the time to prepare. We’re also playing in a KU friendly arena where it should be a heavy KU crowd.
We have the experience edge, talent edge, coaching edge, better overall team. We should and expect to win. I hope that is the case
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@BeddieKU23 I’ve seen a couple of Clemson games and their defensive strategy is simple. They pack the paint and force teams to beat them from deep. They adopted that philosophy because it’s a good plan to be successful in the ACC and it worked for them as they finished tied for 3rd this year.
If KU is making their average on 3 pointers Friday night, KU will move on simple as that.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Let’s see, Oregon defended the paint really well, and all we had to do was make some shots from outside… Do you see this as similar?
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I think the only real thing we have to worry about is getting cold and staying cold.
So if we come out and go 0-8 from trey… we going to stop shooting the trey? Or will our guys tighten up and make things even worse? If we do that, we end up with a game where we go 4-26 from trey.
How resilient is this team? If we start cold can be break out of the funk?
This has always been an issue with us in March and why we often lost to very inferior teams.
This year… we have come back in many games. It kind of seems like we are better off just digging ourselves into a hole in the first half in order to inspire us for the second half. I get more worried when we come out red hot, and then later go cold… then we are trying to flip it around in time to pull the win out.
So much of this relates to Devonte. His senior leadership should be crucial. He has been a solid leader since entering Big 12 play. He’s going to try to rally the troops if we fall behind.
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mayjay said:
@Texas-Hawk-10 Let’s see, Oregon defended the paint really well, and all we had to do was make some shots from outside… Do you see this as similar?
It’s not much different than Oregon. KU didn’t make shots last year and list because they didn’t make their shots. I probably said the same thing last year, shoot your average and win. No different than what KU needs to do on Friday. KU is the better team, they make shots and they win, simple as that. If KU doesn’t make shots, they will lose.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Doke is a big difference from last year, though. So, Clemson will not be as dominating as Oregon was.
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Having read your post I went and dug through Clemson’s losses this year starting from around the time their best player went down with injury figuring that would give me the best baseline for where this team is at.
Obviously box scores can only tell you so much but North Carolina was the only team that shot over 50% from the field, made a ton of 3’s and beat them. They lost a lot of their other games having bad shooting games or in the same game having the other team shoot poorly as well.
It seems they have lost more then their share of close games, something KU is well versed in this year.
Obviously we don’t want to start off shooting poorly in the game Friday. We didn’t start off the game that well against Seton Hall either but a couple of momentum swinging 3’s towards the end of the first half seemed to key what was a really good 2nd half offensively for KU. We’ve seen that time and time again this year as well, struggling, digging a hole and then one or two plays triggers a run. I’d rather KU keep control of this game as much as they can but if we are in a situation where we are struggling I will remain calm knowing these guys have been put in this pressure situation time and time again this season.
I will be watching closely to see which Hawks get going early. Devonte, Vick, Newman seem to play at a higher level when they are making shots especially if they make the first one. Svi has had a knack all season long for forgetting his last shot so I generally don’t worry too much about him.
I think we have three big advantages in this game. Perimeter shooting, Devonte’s leadership, and Azubuike’s size advantage in the post. To me this seems like a game where all three of those things will be too much for Clemson to overcome.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Didn’t Oregon put a wrinkle in? Extend the defense on the perimeter with long armed guards and force us a little further out?
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Anyone remember in Bananas when Woody Allen is being taught how to suck out the poison from snake bites. Hilarious.
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Dwight Colby had a nice line tonight in Western Kentucky’s quarterfinal NIT win over OK State (92 to 84):
In 33 minutes of play:
7 for 10 FG; 2-4 FT; 13 REB; 2 AST; 3 BLK; 2 TO; 4 PF; and 16 PTS
I am happy for Dwight but hope that Silvio/Lightfoot produce at least one very impactful game this tournament to help lessen the sting.
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@CRH107 Interesting stat in that game was WKY is now 23-0 when leading with 5 mins to go. Their coach, Rick Stansbury, is 36-0 overall in that stat in his 2 years. They have improved under him from 15-17 last year to 27-10. Interesting program: acc to Wikipedia, they are actually #8 in all time winning percentage (#16 in total wins).
Good luck, Dwight!
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Self decided Clemson was a Silvio and not a Mitch game apparently.
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@BShark And thank goodness he did. Silvio’s strength and athleticism is so far superior. Against Duke’s bigs I think we will see more Silvio again. I love the kid. He is doing great for his 3 months of experience. What a ride he is on. Go Silvio!!
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@BShark Mitch is at a big disadvantage against more powerful players. When the opposing big is more inside/outside he flourishes. He is just out of position in the 4 out 1 we have run all year.
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We may need Mitch more against the quicker duke bigs, who knows.
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Crimsonorblue22 said:
We may need Mitch more against the quicker duke bigs, who knows.
I agree and I can see a big hustle game out of him.
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@Barney Yep I mentioned some of this in the other Mitch thread (lol two Mitch threads) but I agree. Silvio and Doke were clear mismatches for Clemson’s bigs and Mitch was not. Self seemed content to let Clemson’s C take threes if he wanted to.
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BUMP
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Malik Newman for president! Everyone write that in 2020
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Under Malik Newman’s goatee is only fire!!!
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KU might have been better with Silvio in the game instead of Doke. Need to review the tape.
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CRH107 said:
Dwight Colby had a nice line tonight in Western Kentucky’s quarterfinal NIT win over OK State (92 to 84):
In 33 minutes of play:
7 for 10 FG; 2-4 FT; 13 REB; 2 AST; 3 BLK; 2 TO; 4 PF; and 16 PTS
I am happy for Dwight but hope that Silvio/Lightfoot produce at least one very impactful game this tournament to help lessen the sting.
You got your wish!
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Wow, 21 points and he passes Danny?!? He certainly has a darn good shot it… and then some!
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So what will be Malik’s final nickname this year?
I’ve heard “Mr. March”…
I was thinking “Malik ‘I told you so’ Newman”… for all those critics that wanted him benched not too long ago.
If you are one of those people, don’t fret it. No one could have accurately predicted he would come along so quickly and so strong… except Malik’s dad!
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StLJhawk said:
Wow, 21 points and he passes Danny?!? He certainly has a darn good shot it… and then some!
No that was before the FF. So Danny has those point in just 4 games too.
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@BShark Ah, but still, nice stat and nice company to be in.
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@StLJhawk It is hard to believe Danny only had 107 points. He had over 50 in the Final 4.
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BShark said:
Please note it says “Kansas player ENTERING Final Four.” Final Fours stats not included?
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@Gorilla72 Yes. Points through the first four games of the tournament for those players. Quite the performance from Malik.
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@Gorilla72 That makes more sense.
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Malik is now the #43 ranked prospect on ESPN for the Draft. From unranked to 43 is a quantum leap in 4 games…
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Devonte #29
Svi #52
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BeddieKU23 said:
Malik is now the #43 ranked prospect on ESPN for the Draft. From unranked to 43 is a quantum leap in 4 games…
He is leaving, in case anyone was wondering.
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After his March I wouldn’t expect anything else. He’s earning right now.
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@BShark I assumed he was leaving after the Big 12 tournament when he talked about March being where you make your money. We’re going to win a title and it will boost his stock even more.
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@HawkInMizery He said the games in March are “the money games”, which I took to mean these are the ones that really count. Edit: different quote apprently.
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@mayjay either way, i think he’s gone and his hot streak couldn’t have come at a better time! Crazy that he scored all 13 for us in OT
