I hadn’t really thought of doing Know your Foe for basketball because of how quick the turnaround between games is, but Shay Wildeboor from JayhawkSlant reached out to me for his questions and I figured I might as well take advantage and send some back his way. I think this will be something I do for bigger games or maybe consistently when we get into conference play.
Here are Shay’s answers. (Also, I understand you guys hate the capitalized ‘k,’ I’ve been doing my best on that in my stories, but I’m not going to change Shay’s answers in any way, so it will be there).
Kyle: kansas is off to a hot start as usual and has played a tough schedule with big-time matchups. Do you think the team has lived up to expectations so far? Are there any areas you expected the team to be better than it has been so far?
Shay: I think Kansas, for the most part, has lived up to the expectations placed on the team when the season kicked off. Currently, the Jayhawks have victories over the likes of North Carolina, Michigan State, Duke, and Furman, which was 7-0 before losing inside Allen Fieldhouse back on November 30. Kansas clearly has some big non-conference wins and has played one of the toughest schedules during the non-conference. Now, has Kansas been perfect during its current 7-1 stretch to open the season? No, not at all. However, a lot of teams would have tasted defeat the same way Kansas did at Creighton earlier in the week.
Kyle: What went wrong for kansas in the matchup against Creighton? Do you see it as a one-off issue the team will move past or is there a new blueprint of how to play kansas well?
Shay: I think a lot of Kansas fans saw the outcome of the Creighton game coming well before Wednesday night.
CU just came out the more aggressive team, got on a roll early in the game, and Kansas simply struggled to get anything going on either end of the court. Kansas was without the services of Rylan Griffen and Shakeel Moore, and guys like Hunter Dickinson, Dajuan Harris, and KJ Adams never got into a rhythm on the offensive end of the court. Until Kansas finds a way to hit shots from behind the arc, teams will continue to focus on Hunter Dickinson and force Bill Self’s squad to score from behind the arc.
Kyle: kansas has obviously played in a lot of daunting environments the past couple of years and there’s enough of the team left from last year and two years ago that I wouldn’t expect any issues with playing in a tough situation. But do you think there’s any room for kansas to falter facing what I would expect to be the most energetic, animosity-fueled arena it has faced this year?
Shay: Sunday will likely be the most wild and crazy scene that Kansas will face all season.
We all know how Missouri fans feel about Kansas and I expect the Antlers to be as intense and rowdy as ever before. With that being said, I feel like Kansas will play with a chip on its shoulder and with a certain swagger coming of the Creighton loss.
For guys like Dajuan Harris, KJ Adams, and Hunter Dickinson, this will be the final trip to Columbia and the Jayhawks know how important it will be to bounce back on Sunday. Since losing to Creighton, a few guys have talked about not allowing one loss to become two. I think Kansas will be ready for anything and everything on Sunday.
Kyle: How do you see the matchup playing out?
Shay: Listen, Missouri has won seven straight games, is undefeated at home, and will be pumped up and ready to go with Kansas coming to town on Sunday.
I expect a close game and will be extremely competitive. Still, I also expect guys like Hunter Dickinson, KJ Adams, Dajuan Harris, Zeke Mayo, AJ Storr, Rylan Griffen, and others to bounce back in a major way against the Tigers.
This team is fired up to face Missouri on the road and is coming off its first loss of the season.
I’m expecting Kansas to pull away late from Missouri on Sunday
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