It has been an up and down season so far for Kansas Freshman Xavier Henry. He kicked of the year with a 27 point performance in Kansas’ first game against Hofstra. He continued solid play throughout the out of conference schedule and through the Jayhawks first 15 games he lead the team in scoring. When conference play started Henry began to struggle. There was a drop off in nearly every statistical category for Henry and many Jayhawk fans questioned whether he had the ability to perform against tough competition. In the last five games Henry has answered the critics and has gotten back on track and looks even better than he did to begin the year.
To start the season Kansas played mostly inferior competition. Henry played with a great deal of confidence during these games. He averaged 16 points per game and shot 49% from the field. In addition his three point percentage was an efficient 46%. If there was one thing that Coach Self pointed out that he wanted Henry to do more of it was attacking the basket. Out of his 161 field goal attempts during those games 72 of them were three point shots, just slightly under half.
The first conference game was at Nebraska and Henry struggled mightily. He scored only nine points and shot 33% from the field. This game was the start of a rough stretch of games for Henry. In the first eight conference games his numbers decreased in almost every category. His points per game average dropped from 16 to 8. His overall shooting percentage went from 49% to 29% and his 3 point percentage went from 46% to 27%. Out of his 68 shot attempts 41 of them were three point shots. He wasn’t playing with the same confidence and aggressiveness and it showed. At this point many Jayhawk fans started to question whether Henry was as good as everyone initially thought he was.
The turning point for Henry happened in Kansas’ victory at Texas on February 8th. Henry finished with 15 points which was the first time he had scored in double figures since the Baylor game January 20th. More importantly it seemed that Henry had regained his confidence. In each of the following four games Henry has scored in double figures including last night’s 23 point performance against Oklahoma. Through this five game stretch Henry’s statistics have been even better than they were during out of conference play. He has averaged 16 points per game along with 5 rebounds per game. He has shot a scorching 53% from the field and 48% from three. Perhaps the most telling statistic of Henry’s improvement is the fact that out of his 60 shot attempts only 21 have been three’s, considerably less than the first eight games of conference play. Instead of relying on three point shots he has been attacking the rim and it has made all the difference.
It is clear that as the season has gone on Henry’s game has made considerable progress. He had a rough patch in the middle of the year, but that is to be expected from a freshman. He is starting to figure out what it takes to be successful against the best competition. Slowly but surely Henry has placed himself back in the conversation as one of the nation’s elite freshman, silencing the critics one game at a time
