The Kansas Jayhawks throttled the Emporia State Hornets on Tuedsay evening in KU basketball's final exhibition game of the season. The final score was 90-59. The Jayhawks had five players in double digits including Markieff Morris leading the team with 14 followed by Marcus Morris and Travis Releford who put in 12 each. Thomas Robinson started the game off with a nice dunk and added 12 points and another six offensive boards and 10 rebounds total.
While it was a good night, Kansas head coach Bill Self there's always things to work on.
"We did some good things. We had some really good possessions defensively where we rebounded the ball decent. We also had some really poor possessions defensively. Offensively, I thought the ball stuck more tonight than it did the other night. We did OK, but we've got to get better. We don't guard as a team like we should, I don't know if there is near enough pride in that regard with our team. "
Self laid out some things to work on before the game: post defense, shooting percentage, overall aggressiveness and execution. KU improved their free throw shooting hitting 35-of-40 free throws including 27-of-29 in the second half. The Jayhawks did well in most of the other categories but it's hard to get aggressive defensively when A.) it's Emporia State and B.) you're up 40 points in the game.
"Overall, it was just kind of a mediocre performance. Everybody just played OK, I don't think anybody was exceptional."
Don't tell that to Emporia State. Their players were impressed with Kansas and the 31-point victory., especially the athleticism.
"That first half can definitely be a bit overwhelming playing in front of all those people. It was exciting, but at the same time it was tough. They (the Jayhawks) covered a lot of ground with their athleticism. Their bigs are strong and physical inside. Inside we're small, but coaches tell us to go out there and compete. That's all they ask of us is to go and compete. So that's what we tried to so today, come out and give our best and compete."