I am old enough to remember that the Kansas Jayhawks were ranked No. 1 in the nation this season. While that is no longer the case, it still stunned many to learn that the Jayhawks failed to win a game in the 2024 Big 12 Tournament. The sixth-seeded Jayhawks fell prey to the 11th-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats on Wednesday, 72-52.
Bill Self Wants The Kansas Jayhawks To Shoot Better From 3-Point Distance
Granted that the Kansas Jayhawks were missing both Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr. in the Big 12 Tournament, they could have still defeated the Bearcast if only they were able to shoot efficiently from behind the arc.
The Jayhawks’ outside shooting against Cincinnati was horrid. They were just 3/20 from deep, with Kansas starters combining for 1/13 from the 3-point region.
After the game, Kansas head coach Bill Self brought up the need for the Jayhawks to make their 3-pointers if they were to win it all in the Big Dance.
Via Shay Wildeboor of JayhawkSlant:
“When you can’t stretch it, it puts a lot of people around Hunter, but we had — the bottom line is, you know, we haven’t shot the ball well beyond the arc since the second game of the season,” said Self. “But what we have done is run really good offense and score a lot of two’s, a lot! Probably as efficient as anybody in America inside the arc. But, you know, the bottom line is we need to be able to make six or seven threes. When you get outscored 15 to 30 points every game from beyond the arc, that’s a lot of twos and you don’t have enough opportunities to make those up.
Hitting seven 3-pointers in a game consistently for the Jayhawks can be a tall order for them. For one, Kansas is just 323rd in the nation with just 5.7 3-pointers made per game and they are also just 211st with a 33.3 percent success rate from deep.
And as Self mentioned, the Jayhawks have not really been big this season in jacking up outside shots. According to Hoop-Math, Kansas is 333rd nationally with just 29.7 percent of their field-goal attempts coming from the 3-point area.
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