Hawking Points: Balanced Effort Pushes Kansas Past Central Arkansas 69-48

A career day for Ryan Cobbins combined with a bunch of other Jayhawks ended any hope the Sugar Bears had for an upset.

"We need more depth," Kansas head coach Brandon Schneider said after his Jayhawks defeated the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears 69-48 in Allen Fieldhouse. "We were a lot more intentional in the last two games to get more people some action."

And despite some early hiccups, the move paid off for Kansas. Senior guard Ryan Cobbins hit two milestones tonight, getting to 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds, but the overall balance seen across the lineup helped Kansas push their advantages after the first quarter.

Key Plays

If you watched the start of this game and thought that Kansas was going to cruise for an easy victory, it's hard to blame you. The Jayhawks used two early threes from Zakiyah Franklin to run out to an early 7-0 (and 10-2) lead. But after the media timeout, things started to bog down. Central Arkansas leaned on what they do best, denying entry passes into the paint and hitting the rebounds hard. Kansas struggled to get offensive rebounds and the Sugar Bears capitalized to close the gap.

The media timeout in the first quarter came extremely late, which allowed Brandon Schneider to do a nearly wholesale change to the lineup.  It didn't seem to work at first, as Central Arkansas tied it up almost immediately. But after settling in, Laia Conesa got two big buckets to push the lead back out to 16-12 to end the quarter.

The second quarter saw the Jayhawks get everyone in on the action, as seven different players scored. And Kansas was doing it efficiently, ending the half shooting 52% from the field and outrebounding the Sugar Bears by 6. The only Kansas player that saw the court in the first half without scoring was Holly Kersgieter.

The Jayhawks really took off in the third quarter, as they quickly turned a 10-point lead into a 20-point lead. Taiyanna Jackson scored once at the beginning of the quarter and once at the end, while Kersgieter, S'mya Nichols and Cobbins each scored twice in the quarter. Paris Gaines added a layup, and the Jayhawks shut down every Sugar Bear player except for Leah Mafua, who scored 10 point in the quarter. The final quarter didn't really change much, as Kansas traded small runs with Central Arkansas to finish the game.

Eye-Catching Stat Lines

The Jayhawks scored 30 points off of turnovers, forcing 16 of them. However, they also turned the ball over 13 times themselves, giving up 14 points.

Central Arkansas only made 44% of their free throws on the night, making just 4 of their 9 attempts.

Despite the troubles getting the ball into the paint in the first quarter, Kansas finished with 42 of their 69 points coming in the paint. 

Areas of Improvement

The slow starts for the Jayhawks have been an issue, as they have struggled to finish a first quarter strong for most of the season. Part of that seems to be incorporating so many players, but it is something that is going to have to change soon, especially on the road in the Big 12.

Takeaways

Kansas is such a versatile team that it is easy to convince yourself that they will be just fine in conference play. And tonight only helped, with so many players able to step up in big minutes. Laia Conesa seems to be exactly the shot in the arm of energy that the team will need going into conference play.

Up Next

Kansas hosts the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday, December 20th.  Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30pm Central time, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

The Jayhawks are looking forward to avenging their first loss from last season, when they lost in triple overtime up in Lincoln. Asked about getting revenge, Schneider said "the Christmas Break, even though it's short, is much more enjoyable if you can finish off the semester with a win."