Off-the-court concerns loom as Kansas visits Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Any time blue bloods Kentucky and Kansas meet on the basketball court, the game is more than enough to generate buzz across the college landscape.
This time, however, off-the-court storylines threaten to overshadow the contest when the No. 2 Jayhawks and No. 4 Wildcats meet Saturday at Rupp Arena.
On Thursday afternoon, Kansas coach Bill Self addressed the fact that Lawrence police are investigating an alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl on Dec. 17 at McCarthy Hall, the dormitory that houses the men's basketball team and other students. Five KU players were listed as witnesses -- Frank Mason III, Mitch Lightfoot, Lagerald Vick, Tucker Vang and Josh Jackson. No charges have been filed.
"If there was an issue they wouldn't be playing." Self said. "I know positively that we've been given zero information that would warrant suspensions or anything like that that's connected to our players. I certainly will act on it if any information is given to us in the future that would warrant such action."
On Thursday night, Self announced that sophomore forward Carlton Bragg has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. "This violation is not connected to the alleged incident in McCarthy Hall," Self said in a statement.
That's a formidable one-two punch for Kansas to deal with as it preps for Kentucky.
"It's not a distraction, it's a major distraction," Self said. "But when you talk about distraction, you look at it how it affects us. But more importantly, there is an obviously very serious allegation that has been made. So that trumps figuring out how to guard (Malik) Monk or (De'Aaron) Fox, to be real candid with you."
But the game, like the show, must go on, and it promises to be a dandy. No. 4 Kentucky (17-3, 7-1 SEC) faces No. 2 Kansas (18-2, 7-1 Big 12) at 6:15 Saturday as part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
Kentucky is college basketball's all-time wins leader with 2,222, while Kansas is in second place at 2,204. Together, they have been to 31 Final Fours and own 11 NCAA titles.
"When you get Kansas and Kentucky players together," Self said, "obviously it will take center stage."
Kentucky is led by its guard play, with freshman point guard De'Aaron Fox, freshmen Malik Monk and sophomore Isaiah Briscoe. That trio represents UK's top three scorers, topped by Monk's 21.9 points per game.
But Wildcats coach John Calipari has been unhappy with that group of late, saying his team simply isn't playing the way it did three weeks ago.
"If you demand a lot, you get a lot. If you accept mediocrity, you're going to get it every time," Calipari said. "By us not passing the ball, they must have thought that's not what we're demanding. And so, yesterday, we did some things to make them pass and then they did some things just to pass.
"When the ball comes to you, you either shoot it, drive it right away, pass it to the post, but don't hold it. Just don't hold the ball," Calipari said. "That means you've just got to get rid of it. That's what we did yesterday to get better. Now, they'll go in the game and they're going to revert, and somebody's going to get it and he's going to back up, the defense sinks in and you get absolutely nothing. Then you shoot a step-back jumper with your toes up, fade-away and say, 'I almost made it. I can make that shot.' Yeah, one out of six, but we can't win.' Just a young group."
The Wildcats average 92.2 points per game, third best in the nation.
"They go from defense to offense faster than probably anyone in college basketball," Self said.
Of late, UK's inside game has come on strong, too, behind freshmen Bam Adebayo and Wenyen Gabriel and senior Derek Willis.
"They're playing with lottery picks," Self said. "People can worry about their guards, but Adebayo is starting to score the ball equally well. So they have a legitimate inside-out combination that would be hard for anybody to deal with. We just have to make sure that we do something athletically and physically and defensively that doesn't allow them to play at that high, high level offensively."
Adebayo has been best among the bigs of late, hitting on 21 of his last 25 attempts.
"I'm just trying to tell them, 'Look, do I have to call plays for you to throw him the ball? Do you really want to play that way?'" Calipari asked his team. "If he's open then throw it to him. Just have in your mind, 'I'm looking at him first. I'll throw it ahead. If I don't have something I'll get him the ball.'"
Kansas is led by Mason, who averages 19.9 points per game. Next comes Jackson at 15.5, junior guard Devonte' Graham at 13.7, and junior guard Svlatosiav Mykhailuk at 10.8. Senior center Landen Lucas is the top rebounder at 8.0 to go with 7.3 points.
The Jayhawks are without 6-10 sophomore Bragg, who was suspended Thursday night, and 7-0 freshman Udoka Azubuike, who was injured after 11 games.
"Thank God it's January," Calipari said. "We're playing the top-ranked team that has veteran guards, that understands their freshmen are as good as any of our freshmen. They play inside-out. Bill does a great job. They're good."
"I'm a little bit uncertain of how we'll respond, to be quite candid," Self said. "I know there are some people that aren't real happy right now that will, I'm sure, use the basketball court as a way to kind of get away from the distraction. But how we're going to respond, I don't know that I have an answer for that."
