Looking at these two games, there is one main piece to beating ku. Outside of that, Tech and aTm really beat ku in much different ways.
The common denominators: Limit Brandon Rush. Against Tech Rush was 4-14 for 10 points. Against aTm Rush was 3-13 for 10 points. So as much as we dog Rush, he's a huge key for the Cats. In Lawrence he started hot and never really slowed down. We need Wright to play the defense we're used to and hold him around 10 points but still force up a dozen or so shots. That makes ku's offense much less efficient and gives you a chance.
Shoot better than the Hawks and "handle the ball". Both Tech and aTm shot 4% better than ku from the field, and though neither had a positive assist to TO ratio, aTm was even and Tech was "only" -2. You don't have to have some rediculous perfect game handling or shooting the ball, but you've got to be efficient (even A-TO) and shoot at least slightly better than the Hawks.
The Tech formula: Beat 'em on the boards and get to the FT line. The rebounding margin was narrow, but Tech took the battle of the boards 33 to 30 in Lubbock and more importantly shot 20 FTs to ku's 4, outscoring them from the line 15 to 2. Plus, they were more efficient shooting the ball hitting 49% compared to 45%. Both were about the same from the 3 PT line and Tech amassed 16 TOs, but Tech still overcame ku shooting 13 more shots than they did. So for Tech, the FT line, hitting shots, and even on the boards was the key.
The aTm formula: aTm used a much different method, as they got drilled on the boards by 11 (including 17 offensive boards for the Hawks!) and got outscored from the FT line 14-11, though they were more efficient from the FT line. aTm shot better though, 46% to 42%, and forced ku into 16 TOs. aTm's 8-20 performance from beyond the arc compared to ku's 4-12 was a factor as well. So aTm was able to shoot better, hit a few more 3s, and force ku into some TOs which limited their offensive opportunities as ku only got 3 more shots that atm.
So what's this say about our game? 1st, its winnable. 2nd, there is more than one way to win. 3rd, its not just offense OR defense that will win it, we need to be solid (but not "perfect") on both. Efficiency on both ends of the floor, while keeping the game in the 60s gives the Cats a shot, now we'll have to see if we can get that done.
