Kansas 92 - Nebraska 39

My Observations

Anyone who tries to find something to complain about in this victory against NU should take over as "Debbie Downer" on SNL ... this was total domination on a scale this team hasn't seen this season.  What I felt most positive about was that, once KU got things going, it didn't let up.  When two players score for the first time in their careers during the same game, it's best we keep the analysis to a minimum and the high-fives to a maximum.  Excellent work, Jayhawks.

Four Factor Analysis

• eFG% - KU by 67.5-34%
• TURNOVERS - KU significant advantage, 21-11% rate.
• OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING - Only 30% for KU, but only a pitiful 11% for NU.
• FREETHROW RATE (FTM/FGA) - Advantage for KU of 18-8%.

CONCLUSION - Absolutely everything went KU's way, but the devastating factor in this game was simply KU shooting better.  But even if both teams had shot the same percentage, KU would have won by about 17 points!

Player Performance Analysis

Nebraska players all rate low, naturally, as the team lost by 53 points.  Velander and Smith were the only players who shot a good percentage, and their limited playing time kept them from getting too much of the blame for the loss.  Otherwise, it wasn't a pretty picture for Husker players.

Maric wasn't a very big factor, especially once Kaun shut him down in the second half.  For the game, Maric scored 14 PTS on 6-16 shooting, only 3 REB and 0 BLK in 25 minutes.  It was tough for NU to find much offensively once Maric was out of the picture.  Ryan Anderson tried to fill in the gap, but he shot only 1-5 from 3FG and finished with 7 PTS and 5 REB in 23 minutes.  Basically, the other players shot terribly (including 1-6 FT for Marks) and only one player (Richardson Jr.) had more than one assist.

This game was all about KU's domination on both ends of the floor.  Leading the attack was Preseason All-American, Brandon Rush.  One of his best performances of the season left him with 13 PTS, 8 REB, 75 eFG% (2-4 3FG), 2 AST and 0 TO in 29 minutes.  Rush had the highest total impact (cPSAN) rating on the team, but if you want to look at efficiency (cPSAN70), that award clearly goes to Jeremy Case.  In just 9 minutes, Case had 9 PTS, 100 eFG% (2-3 on 3FG), 1 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 2 PF and 0 TO.  His efficiency was nearly twice the next closest (Rush).

Mario Chalmers finally had an impactful game with 10 PTS, 71 eFG% (2-5 on 3FG), 2 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL and 0 TO in 25 minutes.  He displayed a great mix of moves to the basket as well as outside shooting.  It doesn't really seem like Chalmers has "left the building" or anything like that.  Some games, he seems to be very impactful, while others he is more quiet.  It seems to be a function of the fact that KU has so many weapons that no player consistently takes all the shots.  This should spread out the risk of having a bad day, so we'll see whether this turns out to be an advantage in the postseason.

The rest of the regular rotation all had very similar, excellent ratings with the notable exception of Sasha Kaun.  Keep in mind though, Kaun played a big role in harrassing Maric down low.  More importantly, the cPSAN represents total impact, and this mostly represents that Kaun played only 12 minutes.  In fact, his efficiency for the game was around the 6.40 mark, which is right about what Julian Wright has averaged this season as the team's #1 efficient player.