HAWK ZONE

Kansas basketball vs. Gonzaga in March Madness: Scouting report for NCAA tournament game

Topeka Capital-Journal

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Kansas basketball can reach another Sweet 16 if it’s able to pick up a NCAA tournament win Saturday against Gonzaga.

The No. 4-seed Jayhawks (23-10) survived a battle Thursday against No. 13-seed Samford to advance to the round of 32. That same day, No. 5-seed Gonzaga (26-7) topped No. 12-seed McNeese for its own round of 64 victory. And the two programs have now set up what’ll likely be one of the more anticipated matchups of March Madness.

Here are a few things to think about before Kansas and Gonzaga tip off, and a prediction of how the game will unfold:

Gonzaga is coming off of an impressive 3-point shooting performance

Kansas is coming off of a game in which it allowed Samford to shoot 16-for-37 (43.2%) from behind the arc. That included a 10-for-20 (50%) mark in the second half. It’s in large part why the Jayhawks were almost eliminated Thursday.

Gonzaga, against McNeese, shot 10-for-21 (47.6%) from behind the arc. It’s a vulnerable situation for Kansas. Time will tell if the Jayhawks’ 3-point shooting defense can improve enough.

Kansas is going to need another impressive performance from Nicolas Timberlake

Senior center Hunter Dickinson delivered a massive double-double for Kansas in its win against Samford, but he wasn’t the only bright spot for the Jayhawks. Graduate senior guard Nicolas Timberlake was also impressive. Timberlake had 19 points and shot the ball well from the field.

With graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. out due to injury, Kansas will continue to need that kind of offensive performance from Timberlake. It’ll need that to keep up with a Gonzaga team that’s shown it has the capability to put up a lot of points. Consistency, though, has been an issue for Timberlake this season.

Kansas has to take better care of the ball

Gonzaga had its own issues with turnovers against McNeese. McNeese scored 15 points off of 13 turnovers, while Gonzaga scored seven points off of six turnovers. But what Gonzaga experienced was not as substantial as what Kansas had to overcome.

Moving forward, the Jayhawks can’t afford to give the ball away as freely as they did against Samford. It’s hard to see them overcoming another performance in which they allowed 15 points off of 18 turnovers, and scored just seven points off of seven turnovers. In many ways, Kansas is fortunate to be in the situation it is now.

Prediction: Gonzaga 80, Kansas 67

Kansas prevailed Thursday, but is in line to fall short on Saturday. It’ll be difficult for the likes of Timberlake and Dickinson and more to step up to the extent they did against Samford. Gonzaga wins, and sends the Jayhawks into the offseason.

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self looks on during a NCAA tournament game Thursday against Samford in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.