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Preview: KU hosts undefeated Furman for the stretch

VaselineNovember 30, 2024

Preview: KU hosts undefeated Furman for the stretch

AP Photo/Lucas Peltier

Kansas head coach Bill Self reacts during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Duke Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Las Vegas.

When the dust settled on Kansas’ victory over Duke, when the final echoes of Kon Knueppel’s last-second shot clanged off the backboard and the rim disappeared, there was still a game to be played at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday night.

In what could charitably be described as the undercard of ESPN’s Vegas Showdown event, the Furman Paladins of Greenville, South Carolina and the Southern Conference led for the final 18 minutes, 26 seconds, keeping Seattle U at arm’s length in a 61- 56. victory.

That moved Furman to 7-0 on the season; With Seattle traveling to face Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Paladins will take their undefeated season on the road to Allen Fieldhouse in what is officially the second phase of the Vegas Showdown.

Furman meets KU Saturday at 5 p.m. in the second-ever meeting between the two programs. The Jayhawks won the first, 101-60, on December 20, 1993.

From KU’s perspective, this is the last game in Lawrence for two weeks — the longest the Jayhawks will go without playing there at any point during the regular season — as the team heads to back-to-back road dates at Creighton and Missouri after faced the Paladins. .

By the morning after the win over Seattle, Furman was 47 spots higher in KenPom’s rankings than the next closest mid-major KU has played this season (UNC Wilmington). Of course, at the same time, the Jayhawks had also played and defeated KenPom’s Nos. 5 (Duke), 13 (North Carolina) and 42 (Michigan State) teams, two on neutral courts.

The Paladins have yet to face a power conference team during the regular season, as their best wins along with Seattle have come against the likes of Belmont and Jacksonville. Furman hosted Auburn, a top-five national team, for an exhibition game that it lost 83-62.

Furman has been excellent on defense so far this season, posting one of the lowest points-per-game averages in the country at 58.0. On offense, the Paladins are first in their league in assists per game so far. While the strong ball movement is a team-wide trend (five players are averaging at least two assists), they are led by their all-conference guard Pjay Smith, a senior and one-time Division II transfer who also leads the team with 19.2 points per game to walk.

Smith is shooting an impressive 53.3% from beyond the arc this season, and fellow guard Nick Anderson, also a Division II transfer, isn’t far behind at 50%. Against Seattle, 6-foot-4 forward Cooper Bowser grabbed the spotlight with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds.

“We know they’re 7-0, they’re one of the best defensive three-point field goal teams in the country, so they’re going to try to take that away, and then they’re shooting a lot of them too and they’re making a lot of them,” KU said guard Zeke Mayo told reporters Friday.

The Paladins may be a SoCon team expected to be ranked fifth, but they have shown before that they are capable of pulling off a major upset. Two years ago, Bob Richey’s team knocked Virginia out of the NCAA tournament with a three-point lead with two seconds left. The current team has a few holdovers from that squad, most notably Garrett Hien, Tyrese Hughey and Ben VanderWal.

No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks (6-0) vs. Furman Paladins (7-0)

• Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, 5 p.m

• Broadcast: ESPN+

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)

Keep an eye on things

Scoring in groups: It’s early, but the Paladins are shooting over 40% from deep thanks to the efforts of Smith and Anderson. KU recently allowed Duke to go 11-for-26 (42.3%), one of the main reasons the Blue Devils refused to go away despite some big runs from the Jayhawks. Granted, they had defended the arc well before Tuesday night, so Saturday’s match could provide a chance to get back into shape against some strong shooters.

Back on track: Tuesday was a night to forget for KU center Hunter Dickinson, the Jayhawks’ consensus best player who missed the final quarter of the game after being ejected for a flagrant foul and wasn’t particularly good, even when he was on the ground. He missed a series of easy shots at the rim and finished 4-for-11 with 11 points and six rebounds. KU coach Bill Self said he thought the expulsion would serve as a lesson. Dickinson has already shown his top form this year, especially in the Champions Classic against Michigan State, but a steady performance against Furman could be the start of a process of consistency ahead of Big 12 play.

It may take some getting used to: It doesn’t affect the Jayhawks’ performance on the field, but it is literally on the field: KU has reached a deal with longtime sponsor FNBO (First National Bank of Omaha) that includes two copies of the company logo in the center of are placed in the field. James Naismith Court at Allen Fieldhouse. The announcement of the sponsorship deal on Tuesday, with an accompanying video featuring Self and women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider, left some fans complaining about the sanctity of the legendary court, while others were pleased that their school was raking in a ton of money from the sponsorship and still others were simply annoyed that the FNBO’s green logo clashed with the crimson and blue color scheme. The logo will make its on-field debut on Saturday, kicking off a multi-year arrangement.

Excessive observation

Bowser spent a year at Sunrise Christian Academy, the graduate prep school that also produced such recent KU players as Gradey Dick and Zach Clemence.