🏀 GAME PREVIEW: vs. Milwaukee

GAME INFORMATION:

#2/3 Kansas vs. Milwaukee

Date/Time: Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. (CT)

Where: Allen Fieldhouse

Listen: Jayhawk Radio Network

Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+

• Dave Armstrong (play-by-play)
• Chris Piper (analyst)
• Kennetra Pulliams (reporter)

KU WRAPPING UP IMPRESSIVE DECADE

As the Jayhawks head into the final weeks of the calendar year, its time to reflect on arguably the most impressive decade in program history. Kansas currently sits just one victory shy of claiming its 300th victory since Jan. 1, 2010, and would become just the second team in NCAA DI to hit the 300-win plateau this decade (Gonzaga, 304). This would also mark the first time the program has tallied 300 wins in a decade. KU’s 81.6 winning percentage during the 2010’s trails only the run by the Jayhawks in the 1990’s, when KU posted a 82.0 win percentage with a 283-62 mark.

The 2010s saw the Jayhawks reach two Final Fours, claim nine Big 12 regular-season championships and win five Big 12 Tournament titles. KU was also slotted as a No. 1 seed in six of the 10 NCAA Tournaments played. Kansas found itself ranked among the top-10 in 156 of the 191 Associated Press polls released during this decade, spending a mind-boggling 82 percent of the 2010’s as a top-10 team.

The decade has not been kind to those playing the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse. KU enters Tuesday’s contest with a 150-7 mark (95.5 percent) playing on James Naismith Court this decade.

The program saw four Consensus First Team All-Americans, four Big 12 Players of the Year, 14 All-Big 12 First Team selections, as well as a National Player of the Year, all in the last 10 years.

ABOUT MILWAUKEE

Located in Milwaukee, Wis., with an enrollment of 24,836, Milwaukee is 5-4 on the season after its 56-53 loss at Drake on Dec. 3. The Panthers are coached by Pat Baldwin who is 30-43 in his third season as a head coach, all at MKE. Milwaukee opened the season 4-1. MKE averages 74.7 points per game and has a plus-7.4 scoring margin. The Panthers make 8.0 3-pointers per game and attempt 24 threes per contest. MKE also averages 12.6 assists, 5.7 steals and 3.4 blocked shots per game.

Redshirt junior guard Te’Jon Lucas leads Milwaukee in scoring at 15.0 points per game and is tied for the team lead in rebounds with a 5.3 average. Lucas also leads the team with 36 assists, 15 steals and 38 free throws made. Senior guard Darius Roy is second on the team with 14 3-pointers made and 30 assists. Roy averages 13.9 points per game. Junior guard Josh Thomas scores 12.0 points per outing and pulls down 5.0 rebounds. His five blocked shots are second-most on the team. Redshirt senior guard DeAndre Abram has started all nine games and he is tied for the team lead in rebounds at 5.3 per game. Abram scores 10.8 points per outing.

LET’S GET DEFENSIVE

The 2019-20 Jayhawks are have turned in some impressive defensive numbers through their first eight games of the season, something that has been a staple for Bill Self’s KU squads. Kansas has held five of its first eight opponents this season to below 40 percent shooting from the field and has also seen five opponents manage less than 30 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. The Jayhawks are also forcing nearly 17 turnovers per game and nabbing 9.6 steals per game.

In Bill Self’s first 16 seasons at Kansas, the Jayhawks have finished among the top-three Big 12 teams in field goal percentage defense 14 times and finished lower than fourth just once. Nationally, Self-coached Jayhawks have ranked eighth or higher nine times in field goal percentage defense and have ranked in the top five on eight occasions, including first in 2005-06 and 2012-13.

OTHER NOTABLES

• Kansas leads the Big 12 in scoring margin (+17.8) and field goal percentage (52.0).
• Four different Jayhawks – Devon Dotson, Isaiah Moss, Udoka Azubuike and Ochai Agbaji – have posted 20 or more points in a game this season.
• After their win over Dayton on Nov. 27, the Jayhawks are 29-4 in overtime games under Bill Self and have won their last six OT contests. The six-straight rank fourth nationally. KU’s 24 overtime wins are the most by any NCAA Division I school since the 2003-04 season.
• Six of seven Kansas victories have been by 12 points or more with two margins being by 30-plus points.
• The Jayhawks’ 112 points against Monmouth (11/15) were their most since KU tallied 114 against Texas Southern on Nov. 21, 2017, and tied for the fourth-most in the Bill Self era.
• Senior center Udoka Azubuike is 30-for-36 (83.3 percent) from the field in his last four games, averaging 16.8 ppg in that span. Azubuike has seven blocked shots in his last two games.
• Sophomore guard Devon Dotson has scored 17 or more points in seven of eight games this season. He has nine steals in his last three games.
• Junior guard Marcus Garrett has 18 assists and 10 steals in his last four games.
• Senior guard Isaiah Moss has four games of multiple 3-pointers made.

Kansas continues its homestand when it plays host to Kansas City in the Jayhawk Shootout at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m. (Central). The game will be televised on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+.

Kansas is 7-0 all-time against Kansas City with the last meeting a KU 105-62 win on Dec. 6, 2016, in Allen Fieldhouse.