College Basketball

Kansas Basketball: Udoka Azubuike out for season with wrist injury

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:34 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Matt Ostrowski/FanSided via Busting Brackets

With starting center Udoka Azubuike now out for the season, what’s next for Kansas basketball?

What has already been a major struggle for the Kansas Jayhawks this season just became even more of a issue.

Starting center Udoka Azubuike will miss the remainder of the season after tearing ligaments in his left wrist during practice on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The freshman was averaging five points and over four rebounds per game this season before the injury. Despite playing just 13 minutes per game, Azubuike was still the team leader in block percentage (12.4 percent). That is something that was very valuable to a Kansas team that has been playing four guard lineups for most of the season.

Not including walk-on Clay Young and the oft-played Mitch Lightfoot and Dwight Coleby, Azubuike was also the team leader in defensive rebounding rate at 25.1 percent.

Azubuike was thrust into a starting role with the early-season struggles of sophomore Carlton Bragg Jr. and an injury to senior Landen Lucas. They have been better as of late, combining for 39 minutes, 15 points, and 16 rebounds in last Saturday’s win over Davidson (also notable is that was Bragg’s first game since his suspension).

Both of those players are going to be thrust into much bigger roles, and if they can keep playing like they did against Davidson, Kansas might not lose too much. Bill Self still has Lightfoot and Coleby to use as bodies off of the bench if needed.

Again, Azubuike was only playing about 13 minutes per game. Bragg is miles better on the offensive end, and as much as he’s been criticized for his rebounding, he’s the best offensive rebounder on the team by a long shot. His offensive rebounding rate is the highest on the team at over 15 percent, with the next highest being Lucas at under 12 percent. Not to mention his defensive rebounding rate of 22 percent is just three percent lower than Azubuike’s.

People also forget how effective Lucas was last season. He was a rock in the middle, a perfect fit for a team that had four major offensive weapons on the floor most of the time in Frank Mason III, Devonte’ Graham, Wayne Selden Jr., and Perry Ellis. Replace Ellis with Josh Jackson and Selden with Svi Mykhailiuk or Lagerald Vick, and that’s not all that different from the makeup of last season’s team.

If Lucas can get healthy, he can be the center this team needs. Set screens, roll to the rim, and rebound the ball. Bragg can then come in when they need a bit more of an offensive punch.

The major concern here shouldn’t be the rebounds, but the defense. Bill Self generally builds his team around that end of the floor and that has traditionally meant there’s a great shot-blocker in the middle (think along the lines of Joel Embiid, Jeff Withey, and Cole Aldrich).

At the same time, though, Self has succeeded in other ways. The Jayhawks were top 30 in the country in points allowed per 100 possessions last season and their only rotation player with a block rate over five percent was Jamari Traylor, and even he was just a bench player that played sparingly behind Perry Ellis.

Besides, defense was never going to be this Kansas team’s calling card. It’s been talked about at length how different this team is. Never did we think we would see a Bill Self team playing with four guards, yet here we are. They have succeeded thus far because of their offense, which is seventh in the country in points scored per 100 possessions.

The best case scenario for the Jayhawks is that Lucas gets healthy and regains his form from last year and Bragg has the breakout season many predicted with his increased playing time. This means they probably won’t skip a beat.

The worst case scenario is that they become an even worse rebounding team, so bad that even their offense can’t make up for it. The four guard lineup has meant they can switch everything one-through-four, and their defensive versatility has led them to being top 20 in the country in two-point field goal defense. Opponents are shooting just 40 percent inside the arc against Kansas.

What has killed them has been the offensive rebounds. Losing Azubuike hurts that, but let’s not lose our minds. Both Lucas and Bragg were probably going to end up playing a lot more than him anyway, and the potential with them on the floor is greater than it is with Azubuike.

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