Syracuse face both a quick turnaround and Kansas

While Donnie Freeman is unavailable for Syracuse, they are catching a break, as well when they take on Kansas in the Players Era Men’s Championship in Las Vegas. The Jayhawks (4-2) will be without their top scorer, dynamic freshman Darryn Peterson, who, like Freeman, is missing the entire event along with his 21.5 points per game.

Peterson had already missed four games this season, but Kansas won three of them, including their Monday matchup with Notre Dame. Their loss without Peterson was a neutral-site game against Duke. Without their superstar freshman, the Jayhawks took care of business yesterday, dispatching the Irish, 71-61.

While Peterson may be on the shelf, the cupboard is far from bare for Hansas. Flory Bidunga and Tre White are offensive threats that must be held in check.

Scouting the Jayhawks

Bidunga is a power player at the rim, scoring 16.7 points per game while shooting 69.8 percent from the field on the season with 17 of his 44 field goals being dunks. He also leads the Jayhawks in rebounding and blocked shots, including swatting five Notre Dame shots.

Tre White averages 14.3 points per game on the season while getting a lot of his points close to the rim and the foul line. Of his 26 field goals on the season, 19 are classified as “close 2’s” at T-Rank and White also has just over 30 percent of Kansas’ free throw attempts on the season. White is also developing into a better perimeter shooter, having made 7-of-17 3’s on the young season.

Kansas has had no issues on defense this season, ranking #11 in the country at KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency. The Jayhawks do not force many turnovers, but do just about everything else well: defending the 3-point line, blocking a lot of shots, rarely fouling, and cleaning up the defensive backboard.

An opponent analysis

Duke and North Carolina, a pair of very good teams, have found success against the Jayhawks, but their other opponents have been stifled. Those two squads did very well inside the arc in their respective victories, shooting at least 62.5 percent on 2-point field goals.

That shows an obvious path to success for the Orange (4-1) and something they have done fairly well this season. While their numbers have tapered off after an extremely hot start in their first two games, SU is shooting 61.6 percent on 2-pointers this season, including 59.4 percent against a very tough Houston team yesterday.

Perhaps more noteworthy than that was Syracuse’s defensive effort and intensity against the Cougars. The Orange made things extremely difficult for the #3 team in the nation, holding them to 36.4 percent shooting from the field in pushing them to overtime.

SU has another tough task in front of them, as Kansas is not a one-player team. That said, yesterday’s game against Houston should translate to today for them, as the Jayhawks bear some significant similarities to them.

Predicting the outcome

The question really lies in if Syracuse can put forth a similar level o effort and intensity on a very short turnaround. They played an overtime game yesterday and today’s contest will likely wrap about 24 hours after the previous contest tipped off.

This matchup with the Jayhawks is a chance for the Orange to prove themselves against another excellent team. If SU wants to return both to national prominence and the NCAA Tournament, this is a game in which they need to repeat yesterday’s effort. They seem like a bunch that can do that.

Syracuse 73, Kansas 68.

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