Hawking Points: Furphy Breaks Out in KU's 74-69 Win Over Cincinnati
The Kansas Jayhawks returned to Allen Fieldhouse on just one day of rest against a Cincinnati Bearcats team that has been competitive in every Big 12 game it had played thus far. It wasn’t pretty, but KU came away with a
Key Plays
It took two minutes, but once again Johnny Furphy made his presence known resoundingly well in the first four minutes of the game. And he did it with his parents in the fieldhouse for the first time, making the trip from Melbourne, Australia. Furphy scored the first points of the game on a fast-break layup. After Hunter Dickinson scored down low and Kevin McCullar hit a three, Furphy grabbed an offensive rebound and then drained his first three, forcing Cincinnati to call a timeout down 10-2 at the 16:28 mark.
Dajuan Harris was much more aggressive offensively in this one, taking the first shot of the game and getting his first points on an and-one four minutes into the game. And when Cincinnati decided to sink its defense into the paint on Dickinson, KJ Adams made them pay with a jumper to go up 10.
Cincinnati turned it over five times before Kansas committed its first turnovers. When it did, Elmarko Jackon quickly got the ball back with an athletic steal on the sideline that he then passed ahead to McCullar to draw a foul. A three by the Bearcats’ Dan Skillings cut the lead to five before Harris answered with a three of his own.
Bad defense by Furphy and others, and a fouled jumper by Nick Timberlake allowed UC to get back into the game, cutting the lead to one at 24-23. Harris immediately answered with a drive and dish to Dickinson for two.
The Bearcats moved to a 1-3-1 zone in the final three minutes of the half, which forced a turnover to start but then led to a Furphy three. Skillings answered with his own three to cut it back to one. And after McCullar missed the front end of a one-and-one, Cinci took the lead. But Kansas was able to tie it and head into the break 35-35.
McCullar opened the scoring in the second half with a fadeaway jumper but turnovers remained an issue. Kansas made bad passes leading to turnovers three times in the first two minutes. Nothing went well for KU. Furphy was fouled but missed two free throws, and on the second, Dickinson picked up his third foul. The Bearcats took their turn coughing the ball up, which led to a Furphy and-one. Another Cinci turnover led to a Harris-to-Furphy fast-break connection and Kansas up five.
Kansas finally gave the crowd something to cheer about with 14 to play. Johnny Furphy kept the play alive with another offensive rebound and some great ball movement around the perimeter led to a McCullar three. McCullar then returned the favor, finding Furphy for a layup.
Dickinson picked up his fourth foul with 10 minutes left and Cincinnati attacked the basket, getting Kansas’ lead again back down to four. It was a free-throw contest after that. Harris blew a layup but then a McCullar steal led to another Harris layup, which he converted to put KU up seven.
McCullar and Adams jumpers expanded the lead to nine, 64-55, with just under three minutes to play. Furphy’s big night continued then with another three to give him 20 points. The Bearcats answered with four quick points, the last coming off a horrific Harris turnover. But Kansas made enough free throws down the stretch to close out the victory.
Eye-Catching Stat Lines
Furphy set a career high in points and rebounds while posting his first double-double. Furphy finished the game with a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds on 7-8 shooting.
Kansas didn’t shoot well from the floor – making only 46% of its field goals – but did hit six of 14 from deep. McCullar wasn’t efficient but finished with 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Adams had 11 points and Dickinson 10 to go with six rebounds as he battled through foul trouble.
For the first time in what feels like a long time, the Kansas defense wasn’t burned by a hot-shooting three-point performance. The Bearcats made just three of 18 from downtown and shot 39% from the field overall.
Kansas had its own turnover issues at times but did turn Cincinnati over 16 times, with 12 of those coming from steals.
Areas of Improvement
Kansas continues to struggle at keeping opponents off the glass. It was a point of emphasis coming in considering Cincinnati is a top-20 offensive rebounding team nationally. The Bearcats grabbed seven of them in the first half and 16 for the game, which was the most given up by the Jayhawks this season.
And while the Jayhawks were strong taking care of the ball early, it didn’t last long. KU had 10 turnovers in the middle half of the game, though did go the last 10 minutes with only one turnover to finish with 11.
The free-throw performance wasn’t great either, especially the front end of one-and-ones from McCullar. Kansas only hit 18-26 from the line.
Takeaways
This looked like a game between two teams that hadn’t had to play two games in three days in a while. Neither team shot it well and Kansas – other than Furphy – either looked exhausted or banged up. Good thing there are four days of rest before heading to Ames to face Iowa State.
