Kansas 79 - Albany 43

My Observations

It's always bittersweet satisfaction to watch the team take out its frustration after a very poor outing by destroying a weak team.  Granted, Albany is not one of those teams in the bottom 10% of college basketball, but still this is the kind of team that only feels it has a chance to win because of how bad Kansas looked last time out.  But in games like this, I like to look at the things that have nothing to do with the final score.  Did the team play with energy?  Check.  Did the guys who need minutes to get confidence get to play and play well (Releford and Reed)?  Check.  Did the defense get back to smothering teams and forcing tough shots?  Check.  Did the de facto team leader and "best player" finally have a good game?  "Well, you can't have everything ... where would you put it?"  (- Steven Wright)

Player Performance Analysis

Perhaps we should call him Tyrel "Roller Coaster" Reed?  After two straight games of being the worst player on the court, he was the most positively impactful last night.  An astounding 92 eFG% shooting night will usually do that for you.  In 23 MIN, he tied his career high of 12 PTS (3-of-5 from 3FG) and chipped in 4 AST and 1 STL against zero turnovers.  Yet, he still wasn't the most efficient, can you believe it?  The big fella, Aldrich, poured in 20 PTS on 80 eFG% shooting and added 6 REB, 3 BLK against 3 TO ... all in just 21 MIN.

Many eyes were on Travis Releford who played the most minutes he's had in ten games.  Well, he did some really nice things, like shooting 88 eFG% to finish with 7 PTS, 4 REB (0 OREB), 2 AST and 1 TO in 14 MIN.  He made his only 3FG attempt and finished with a nice dunk on a fast break.  Clearly, he has moved ahead of Conner Teahan in the rotation, but Tyrel Reed is still getting in before him, and tonight's stellar performance may mean Releford still has some work before securing a spot after Mario Little's return next week.

Kudos to frontcourt players, Marcus Morris and Quintrell Thomas.  Morris did a bit of everything in his 18 MIN, shooting 88 eFG% (crazy numbers all around, huh?) including his first 3FG as a Jayhawk, 7 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST and 2 STL against 1 TO.  He particularly aided himself with all those defensive rebounds and steals, on a night when KU's defense was the star of the game.  Thomas has established himself as a free throw attempt guy.  He basically gets his offense at the line.  In this case, he missed his only FG attempt but was 6-of-6 from the FT line and pulled in 5 REB (2 OREB) without turning it over in 15 MIN.  He can certainly help the team if he keeps up those aspects of his game.

Very interesting game for the two players who've held the MVP award from this site the past few games.  Both Taylor and Collins lagged behind the rest of the Jayhawks, but Taylor still had a good game efficiency-wise.  Collins was the guy who finished with a negative overall rating (of players with 10+ minutes).  He shot a decent 50 eFG% (nothing like what the others were shooting though, which means his shooting took away from KU's average efficiency).  But he had 5 TO's.  Plus, he had zero rebounds and missed one of his three FT attempts.  At least he did a great job on defense.

For the overmatched Great Danes, only two players rated out positive overall.  And only one of them (Gifford) was on the good side in both offense and defense.  Still, no one had a good game by any standards.  The single best performance on either side of the ball was Hastings' defense because he had 2 STL and 1 DREB without any personal fouls.  Now that's a tough night for any team.

Offensive and Defensive Performance

Using the outcome of the game and the adjusted offensive and defensive efficiencies for each team, performance indicates (in PTS per 100 Possessions) how each team would have fared against an average team.  That is, KU's offensive performance is how many points per 100 possessions KU would have scored against an average defense.  This provides a standard performance we can compare across teams.

Four Factor Analysis

(Actual statistics moved to Game Projections table below)