Massachusetts 61, Kansas 60

Massachusetts celebratesThe final score is certainly somewhat of a shocker to anyone who didn’t watch the game. However, for those of us unfortunate enough to have spent two hours glued to the tube, it really isn’t surprising at all. For the first time this season, the freshmen showed their age. In fact, the numbers (or lack thereof) for the group of five were shockingly below any of the other eight games this season. You can point to several reasons KU lost, but that is (by far) reason number one.

As you know, I use the Efficiency Formula (EFF) to indicate who had productive games and who did not. Essentially, it adds five positive values and subtracts three negative values. The result is a very good barometer for overall game production. The five freshmen I’m referring to are, of course, Marcus and Markieff Morris, Tyshawn Taylor, Travis Releford and Quintrell Thomas.

Their cumulative EFF for each game is below. As you can see, their level of underperformance against Massachusetts was shocking. And, that’s a stat that will probably surprise even those of us who watched the game. You always figure there were contributions you didn’t realize until you see the box score, but not in this case!

-

Of course, there were other negatives in the game. The first thing that comes to mind was the 14 point hole KU had to crawl out of late in the first half. Their inability to hit the three (5-23) also contributed to the loss. Collins was only 1-7, but the one he hit from south of Baldwin late in the game would be the three everyone would remember… had KU won. Collins was just about as bad from twos (5-14). On the flip side, KU allowed Mass an effective FG% of over 50%. It’s a miracle they were even close give the shooting stats.

A couple positives kept KU in the game. Zero turnovers in the second half is a remarkable statistic and almost made the difference. Additionally, the Jayhawks won the rebounding battle 43-31 with Aldrich leading the way (13).

Of some interest to fans might be the club’s record when on ESPN. I’m lumping all ESPNs together. KU had a 26 game win streak when playing on ESPN at home or on a neutral court. That ended against Syracuse. KU beat Kent State on ESPN, but then lost to Massachusetts. So, a new streak must begin with Temple next Saturday. Temple pounded #8 Tennessee today, so the kids are going to have to ratchet it up a notch or it’s going to be two losses in a row.

Here are the Points Scored and the Efficiency Rating for each KU player in the game. Also shown is their season scoring and season efficiency average.

For a better explanation of EFF click here.

EFF=[(Pts + Reb + Ast + Blk + Stl)–(Miss FG + Miss FT + TO)]