The tough games just keep coming
Tonight at 8pm Central, the Jayhawks play a neutral court game against the Duke Blue Devils in Las Vegas. Duke is a 3.5 point favorite and comes in ranked 4th by KenPom to KU’s 9th. The game will be televised on ESPN and I’m sure Kansas fans will feel as though they’re getting just as much talk as Duke is. Here are three things to watch during tonight’s game.
1) How do the Jayhawks handle Cooper Flagg?
In case you don’t pay much attention to national college basketball coverage, you should prepare yourself to hear a whole lot of talk tonight about a Duke freshman named Cooper Flagg. Flagg has been the presumptive #1 overall pick in the 2025 draft since last year. The true freshman is 6’9 and possesses a frightening combination of size, skill, athleticism, and physicality. It’s probably safe to assume KJ Adams will spend a lot of time guarding Flagg, but Self may have other defensive wrinkles in store to throw at Duke’s leading scorer. Flagg is far from the only special talent this Duke team has, but if they can find a way to limit his efficiency, it will have a ripple effect on the rest of the Blue Devils’ offense given Flagg’s 30%+ usage rate.
2) Three point shooting
The Jayhawks have had varied success shooting the three, and have been somewhat inconsistent in their outside shooting volume. They shot 25 threes in their last game against UNCW after taking 20 against Oakland. Against Michigan State they shot just 17. There’s been a lot of talk about Zeke Mayo’s small cold streak from three, but Kansas went out and grabbed multiple guys who can shoot the ball from the portal. Duke has a 7’2 center with a block rate of nearly 9%, so shots at the rim might be hard to come by. I’m hoping to see Kansas run offense that generates open looks from outside in addition to their driving lanes, and hopefully we won’t see a repeat performance of the 24% they shot against UNCW.
3) Can AJ Storr get going?
AJ Storr was arguably the biggest talent Kansas landed in the portal in the offseason, but while we’ve seen flashes of his offensive ability, we haven’t seen him put together a complete game yet. It would be great to get that on a big stage tonight, because Duke is going to score some points. If the threes aren’t falling, Kansas might have to pressure the rim and Duke’s tough interior defense. That’s Storr’s specialty and if he can get Duke’s big men into foul trouble by slashing to the rim and making them uncomfortable. Kansas also needs Duke to be worried about points in the paint to keep the three point shot open, so while I emphasized 3 point shooting in the last paragraph, KU also can’t give up on generating close looks. That’s what Storr’s specialty has been and this would be a great night to have it on full display.
Prediction
In KU’s two tough games to date, against North Carolina and Michigan State, they had to fight off comeback attempts and win close. I think that’s the recipe again tonight if Kansas is going to come out on top. Outside of a miserable shooting performance by one team or the other, I have a hard time seeing anyone run away with this game. I know we hate to hear it, but this Duke team is really good. With that in mind, I think Kansas falls just short tonight as they continue to look like a team still trying to find the right lineups and right style of play. Duke’s top talent is young, which could give Kansas an advantage, but I just haven’t seen this team truly click yet, and unless it happens tonight I think they drop a game for the first time this year.
Duke 78, Kansas 74