The Kansas Jayhawks will look to start another winning streak on Thursday when they take on USC in sunny Los Angeles. Kansas will be looking to avoid back to back losses after suffering their third loss of the season Monday night against Davidson in Kansas City. The Trojans won’t make it easy for Kansas to leave Los Angeles with the win. USC will look to take advantage of the turnover happy Jayhawks by slowing the game down and making Kansas grind through every offensive possession and by forcing the Jayhawks to lock down on defense as the shot clock slowly ticks down to less than 5 seconds.
Taking care of the ball, forcing their tempo, rebounding and staying out of foul trouble are a few ways the Jayhawks can welcome Santa with a one game winning streak. Turn the ball over; get into foul trouble and continuing the ‘Ice Cube’ like shooting from the perimeter will make from one Grinch of a Holiday season for Kansas.
The Kansas v USC series – or the Rod v Lod Stewart Holiday Classic:
Kansas leads the overall series against the Trojans 10-5. Kansas won the first three match-ups with the first one being played way back in 1935. The Trojans then won 5 of the next 6 games from 1958-78 but haven’t found a way to beat Kansas over their last 6 meetings. Kansas defeated USC in Lawrence last season in thrilling game that saw freshman Josh Selby make his Kansas debut in spectacular fashion by scoring 21 points, including a three pointer with 24 seconds left to carry Kansas to the win.
The Players – Kansas:
Junior Thomas Robinson will be looking to score at least 21 points for the fourth straight game against USC. Thomas averages 18.1 points per game and 12.1 rebounds per game which makes him the only Big 12 player that is currently averaging a double double.
Senior Tyshawn Taylor will be 11 days removed from having knee surgery. Taylor’s 15.8 points per game ranks sixth in the Big 12, and his 4.9 assists per game rank fourth in the Big 12.
Junior Elijah Johnson will be looking to score at least 15 points in his third straight game against USC and is KU’s leading three point shooter with 20 made three’s.
The Players – USC:
Sophomore Maurice Jones leads USC in scoring at 15.6 per game. He also has 24 made three’s and also leads the Trojans in assists and steals this season.
Junior Aaron Fuller leads the Trojans in rebounding at 6.9 per game to go along with his 11.3 point per game.
Sophomore Dewayne Dedmon leads the Trojans in blocks this season to go along with his 7.5 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per game.
The Teams:
Kansas (7-3) averages 75.2 points per game and is shooting under 50% from the field at 47.6%, including 35.5% from three. The Jayhawks’ 69.9 possessions per game ranks outside of the top 100 in the country, but the Jayhawks averaged 69.9 possessions per game during the 2010-2011 season as well. However that Kansas team averaged 81.2 points per game and led the nation in shooting at 50.8%. That team also ranked in the top 30 from three at 38.2%.
The 2010-2011 version of the Jayhawks ranked 2nd in the country in assists with 17.7 per game. The current team averages 15 assists per game which ranks 54th in the country. Their 0.99 assists to turnover ratio ranks 136th in the country versus the 2010-2011 team that ranked 15th with 1.33 assists to turnover ratio.
Should Kansas outrebound USC on Thursday the Trojans will become the tenth straight opponent the Jayhawks have beat on the boards. The Jayhawks currently averages 38.1 rebounds per game and average 11.4 offensive rebounds per game which ranks 187th in the country thus far this season.
The Jayhawks have shot better from the field than 8 of their 10 opponents this season.
On the defensive end of the court the Jayhawks hold their opponents to 63.9 points per game and 38.8% from the field, which ranks 50th in the country. The 2010-2011 Kansas team held opponents to 39.4% from the field which ranked 12th in the country. However, this Kansas team ranks 257th by only holding opponents to 35.8% from three versus 29.8% by the 2010-2011 team. Opponents also average 21.4 free throw attempts per game, and make 14.9 of them.
Kansas forces 15.1 turnovers per game and 7.3 steals per game. They also rank 23rd in blocked shots with 5.7 per game, including blocking 4 or more shots in 7 of their 10 games. Kansas blocked 13 shots against Florida Atlantic and 12 shots against Long Beach State.
USC (5-7) averages 56.6 points per game, but is coming off of a scoring outburst against TCU on Monday night. The Trojans are shooting 42.4% from the field and 30.9% from three. The Trojans currently average 60.2 possessions per game, which ranks 342nd in the country.
The Trojans average 9.5 assists per game and turn the ball over 12 times per game. Their assists to turnover ratio ranks 254th currently in the country at 0.79.
The Trojans average 29.3 rebounds per game and rank 278th in the country with 9.8 offensive rebounds per game.
On the defensive end of the court the Trojans rank 11th by only giving up an average of 55.4 points per game to opponents. Opponents shoot 39.2% from the field 34% from three against USC. USC has only allowed 15.8 free throw attempts per game by their opponents.
USC ranks 262nd in the country with their 16 forced turnovers per game to go along with their 5.9 steals per game and 2.5 blocks per game.
The Trojans don’t have a good record and their stats, outside of opponents’ points per game, look horrid. What USC does a great job of is staying in games by chewing up clock, playing tough defense, limiting free throw attempts for opponents which all leads to their ultimate goal of not allowing opponents to get close to the 70 possessions total. By doing that this season the Trojans have been within 15 points in all of their 7 losses, and 5 of their losses the Trojans were within 6 points.
Kansas will need to take advantage of USC inability to dominate the glass, take care of the ball and be quick but don’t hurry. Otherwise it will be a long Holiday break for the Jayhawks.
