Hawking Points: Different Cougars, same story as Jackson leads Jayhawks to 69-52 win
In another record-setting night for Kansas center Taiyanna Jackson, the Jayhawks overwhelmed the Houston Cougars inside the paint to put away a dominant 69-52 victory. The Jayhawks went to Jackson early and often, but she really took off in the second half of the game to erase all doubt about who was going to win.
Key Plays
The Jayhawks got out to a big lead to start the game, thanks to a balanced effort from all of their starters. The first eight points of the game for Kansas saw Holly Kersgieter, Zakiyah Franklin, Wyvette Mayberry and S'mya Nichols each get 2 points in the first 3 minutes of the game. Houston focused a lot of their defensive efforts on Jackson, which opened things up for a 7-2 run to stretch the lead to midway through the quarter. The first quarter ended with a five-point margin for Kansas but no points from Jackson.
Jackson wasted no time in the second quarter getting on the board, as she had the first two layups for Kansas as part of a 6-0 run in the quarter. But the rest of the team went cold, as Mayberry had the only bucket from outside of the post. Jackson had five layups in the quarter. But Houston responded to the Jayhawks stretching the lead to 12, going on a 13-4 run to get the lead all the way down to just three before Jackson's last bucket.
The Jayhawks were dealing with foul trouble for most of the night, as three players ended the night with four fouls. Thankfully, Jackson wasn't done, scoring 10 of 20 points for the Jayhawks in the quarter. But she also had six rebounds and three blocks in the quarter, helping Kansas to stretch the lead up to 13 by the end of the quarter.
The fourth quarter is where the Kansas defense shined, forcing tough shot after tough shot for the Cougars. And a huge part of that was the 5 blocks that Jackson tallied in the quarter. But Franklin had 6 huge points, and baskets from Kersgieter, Nichols and Skyler Gill helped seal the dominant victory.
Eye-Catching Stat Lines
Taiyanna Jackson dominated across the stat sheet, ending just a single block shy of a triple double. She ended the night with 25 points, 15 rebounds and 9 blocks.
Skyler Gill may not pop out on the stat sheet, but her 2 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal in 18 crucial minutes while the starters were sitting with foul trouble was a huge deal.
Area of Improvement
Now that the Jayhawks are in the "light" part of the schedule, there aren't as many obvious things to point out. But Kansas struggled from the line in this one, mostly from Jackson's 3-8 performance.
Kansas also left a lot of points on the floor by missing easy layups. It didn't hurt them tonight, but it is not hard to imagine a night where Jackson isn't as dominant and those points are much more important.
Takeaways
This is exactly the type of performance that Kansas needed, and it gives hope that the struggles earlier in the season were mostly due to the schedule that they have played. They have the #3 strength of schedule in the nation, and now that they are able to string together a few games against teams that are struggling, they have a chance to really build their NCAA resume by padding it with some wins.
Up Next
This win moves Kansas to 13-10 on the year and 6-6 in the Big 12. The Jayhawks get the weekend off to recuperate, with their next action coming at home against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30pm Central on Wednesday, February 14th. The game will be broadcast on Big 12 NOW on ESPN+.
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