Jayhawks will look to play tougher as they face Houston Kansas’ win over TCU on Thursday night was hardly a masterpiece. But what it can be for the Jayhawks in the very near future, as they turn their attention to Houston on Friday, is a “stepping stone,” as senior forward Tre White put it. “Houston kind of plays a similar way, creating havoc on defense, push it down your throat on offense, strong, tough, aggressive, and that was kind of how TCU played, so kudos to them,” White said. Those traits have indeed been the hallmarks of Houston teams under head coach Kelvin Sampson. This year’s Cougars, the second-best team in the Big 12, have been the best scoring defense in the country, ranking No. 3, and prolific at forcing turnovers (12.7 per game) while maintaining possession of the ball themselves (a mere 7.6). It’s all amounted to a top-five ranking for the Cougars, a 27-5 record on the season, and most recently a hard-fought 73-66 victory over No. 10 seed BYU on Thursday night. “They’re terrific defensively, they’re tough, their guards can get their own shots, and the biggest thing is they keep balls alive,” KU coach Bill Self said. “They don’t rebound all the balls cleanly, what they do is they do the best job of crashing and back-tapping and creating extra possessions that way. There’s a reason why they’ve been in the top five or seven every week of the season. They’re good, and of course they’re well drilled and extremely well coached.” In short, they are the sort of team against which the Jayhawks will need to be a lot tougher. “Just play even grittier, limit turnovers and offensive rebounds and just making the right adjustments on the fly,” Elmarko Jackson said.#kansas #bill_self #texas_church #tre_white #kelvin_sampson
