What to know about the Kansas Jayhawks
Following a 73-63 first round victory over Illinois, the 8-seed Arkansas Razorbacks (21-13) have the chance to take down a second 1-seed in as many years when they take on the Kansas Jayhawks (28-7) on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament inside Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
Kansas had no trouble defeating 16-seed Howard on Thursday, as the Jayhawks secured a dominant 96-68 win over the Bison.
Leading the way for the Jayhawks against Howard were the usual suspects Jalen Wilson (20 points, seven rebounds) and Gradey Dick (19 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, three steals).
After seeing plenty of success throughout a tough Big 12 conference slate, the Jayhawks are very-much battle tested, as they boasted a 17-7 regular season record against Quad 1 opponents.
The starting five for the Jayhawks features the Big 12 Player of the Year (Wilson), Defensive Player of the Year (Dajuan Harris Jr.) and Most Improved Player (KJ Adams Jr.). Along with that trio, they have a projected lottery pick in 6-foot-8 freshman Gradey Dick.
While Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman hadn't put much thought into facing Kansas at the time of his postgame press conference following the Illinois win Thursday, his staff did their due diligence scouting a Jayhawks team that has lost just two games since Feb. 6.
"We did have -- you know, our assistants were all here and watched the (Kansas-Howard) game, because we needed to prep," Musselman said. "We're ready right now to go have a meeting. The guys will all -- they probably already have scouting reports texted to them on their phones. So our staff is ready, but I'm not right now."
The Razorbacks are 5-8 in the all-time series against Kansas, with the last meeting resulting in a 65-64 win over the Jayhawks on November 25, 2005. The only NCAA Tournament meeting between the two resulted in a 93-81 win for Kansas in the 1991 Elite Eight.
Here's a quick look into Kansas' stats, metrics, projected lineups and more ahead of Saturday's game, which is set to tipoff at 4:15 p.m. CT on CBS:
Metrics Comparison (Kansas & Arkansas)
| Metric | Kansas (28-7) | Arkansas (21-13) |
|---|---|---|
|
NET |
9 |
21 |
|
ESPN BPI |
9 |
14 |
|
KenPom |
9 |
19 |
|
Torvik |
12 |
18 |
|
Sagarin |
7 |
23 |
|
EvanMiya |
10 |
22 |
Regular season stats comparison (national ranking)
| Stat | Arkansas | Kansas |
|---|---|---|
|
Scoring offense |
74.8 (106th) |
74.9 (100th) |
|
Scoring defense |
67.2 (96th) |
67.9 (115th) |
|
Assists |
13.5 (150th) |
16.4 (16th) |
|
Field goal % |
47.5% (30th) |
46.6% (62nd) |
|
3-point field goal % |
32.1% (288th) |
34.4% (166th) |
|
Free throw % |
68.9% (275th) |
71.7% (174th) |
|
Rebounds |
35.4 (t-139th) |
35.9 (101st) |
|
Blocks |
5.2 (11th) |
3.8 (100th) |
|
Steals |
8.4 (31st) |
8.8 (19th) |
Kansas projected starting five
#3 - G Dajuan Harris Jr. - r-Jr., 6'1", 175 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 34.2 min, 8.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 2.1 steals, 1.9 turnovers, 0.4 blocks, 47.3 fg%, 41.2 3fg%
#4 - G Gradey Dick - Fr., 6'8", 205 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 32.6 min, 14.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.4 steals, 1.3 turnovers, 0.3 blocks, 41.1 fg%, 39.9 3fg%
#15 - G Kevin McCullar - r-Sr., 6'6", 210 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 30.7 min, 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals, 2.1 turnovers, 0.7 blocks, 43.5 fg%, 29.5 3fg%
#10 - F Jalen Wilson - r-Jr., 6'8", 225 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 35.4 min, 20.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.0 steals, 2.4 turnovers, 0.5 blocks, 42.5 fg%, 33.8 3fg%
#24 - F KJ Adams Jr. - So., 6'9", 270 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 27.3 min, 10.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.6 turnovers, 0.8 blocks, 63.1 fg%
Other Kansas players to watch
#1 - G Joseph Yesufu - Jr., 6' 0”, 180 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 12.8 min, 4.0 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.5 turnovers, 35.7 fg%, 26.6 3fg%
#0 - G Bobby Pettiford Jr. - So., 6' 1”, 190 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 12.2 min, 2.2 points, 1.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.2 steals, 1.1 turnovers, 55.6 fg%, 30.0 3fg%
#23 - C Ernest Udeh Jr. - Fr., 6'11", 250 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 8.3 min, 2.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.7 steals, 0.5 turnovers, 0.6 blocks, 79.6 fg%