After exhibition battles with the likes of Louisville and Duke, it can seem a little underwhelming to see Fordham come into Allen Fieldhouse to open the regular season.
But don't tell Fordham that. The Rams showed up ready to compete and gave 17th-ranked Kansas a strong run in both halves of Monday's season opener, only succumbing to KU's size, skill and depth up and down the lineup in a 95-65 KU victory.
Monday marked the KU debut of former Purdue star Trey Kaufman-Renn, and, true to his word, KU coach Bill Self played a rotation of 10 players for most of the night, with the 9th and 10th men in the mix (Dennis Parker Jr. & Trent Perry) getting a total of 12 minutes, 6 apiece.
KU led by 12 at the break and by as few as 6 seven minutes into the second half. But, from there, the Jayhawks (1-0) hit Fordham with a 19-3 run that put the game away.
The Jayhawks will be back in action Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse, when they play host to Middle Tennessee on ESPNU. Tipoff for that one is slated for 8 p.m. central.
Here's a look back and some of Monday's action.
LIKES
• Stokes flat-out competes, man – So much has been made about this kid's so-called diva mentality, but every time we see him on the floor, we see what a sham that is. This dude just competes. Every night. Everywhere. And however he has to compete to get it done. On Monday alone, he jumped into passing lanes, guarded Fordham's point guard, dove on the floor for a tie-up, finished buckets through contact and hit from the outside, as well. In short, he did everything he needed to to impact every possession he could without making the night or the game all about him or his numbers. He finished the night with 15 points and 7 rebounds in 25 minutes. He added an assist but also had 4 turnovers, which is probably one of the first things he'll see on the stat sheet when he first gets a copy.
• Solid night for Blyden – The former Toledo standout came in as the 2nd or 3rd Jayhawk off the bench in this one and played a solid first half, both as a scorer and a play-maker for others. Blyden got a little lost in exhibition games against Top-11 teams Louisville and Duke, and it makes sense that he looked much more comfortable against a team like Fordham. He's still going to have to show he can take his game up a level, but good outings like this one against teams he's more used to facing can only help his confidence as he settles in as a Jayhawk and with the most talented teammates he's ever played with. Blyden finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 26 minutes. He added 3 assists and 0 turnovers to his all-around solid stat line.
• TKR gets right to work – Just seconds after checking into the game for his first action as a Jayhawk — the former Purdue star did not play in any of KU's exhibition games — big man Trey Kaufman-Renn got busy quickly, scoring his first official KU bucket on a smooth jump hook in the paint off of a pass from Melvin Council Jr. on the perimeter. Kaufman-Renn received a huge ovation both after the bucket and when he simply got up from his seat on the KU bench to go check in to the game. The KU student section even serenaded him with chants of "T-K-R! T-K-R! T-K-R!" The bucket gave TKR 1,657 points for his career, and counting, after a standout 4-year career with the Boilermakers.
• Look, ma! – After a Fordham turnover near mid-court in the game's early going led to a 3-on-none breakaway for Kansas, it was the Jayhawks' Tre White who corralled the ball and got ahead of the pack for the easy, 2-handed dunk that put Kansas up 10-5 early. As White flushed it, though, both Taylen Kinney and Melvin Council Jr. jumped in the air behind him over both shoulders, turning the rather routine bucket into a highlight-reel-worthy moment.
DISLIKES
• 2nd half start – It was only a 5-0 Fordham run, and it didn't actually put any real threat on the Jayhawks. But you know the message was simple during that Bill Self timeout 1:03 into the 2nd half — it could. No matter how comfortable the lead is at the break or how well the Jayhawks played in the first half, Self — along with thousands of KU fans — have seen far too many times what can happen when you start the 2nd half of a game with low energy and even less urgency. Good teams get back into games. Control of the game disappears. And things get harder than they have to be. The Fordham run in this one merely cut KU's lead to 7 points, and the Jayhawks pushed it right back to 11 points less than 90 seconds later. But the sluggish start to the 2nd half was probably a welcomed sight by Self because it allowed him to lean into that teaching point right away. Don't expect him to let them forget it.
• Free throw woes, again – This was a bit of an issue during the exhibition season and it reared its ugly head again on Monday night, especially in the first half, where the Jayhawks shot just 53% at the stripe, making 8 free throws in 15 attempts. For the game, KU finished 14-for-24 at the line, making 6 of 9 in the second half.
• TK on the exercise bike – He played plenty in the second half, so this is probably a non-issue, but the freshman was still spotted on the stationary bike during portions of the second half on Monday night. This, after he missed part of an exhibition game with cramping issues. No need to make more out of this than there is, but it's something to keep an eye on in case he continues to deal with these sorts of things. As long as he plays, who cares. And he played plenty on Monday night, logging 24 minutes as a starter both halves. He wasn't the most productive or efficient with his minutes, shooting 1-for-5 from the floor, 1-for-3 from 3-point range with 2 turnovers and 1 assist.
WHAT THE?
• TKR for 3!!! – He didn't hesitate to pull the trigger on an open 3-pointer, and he buried this one, in Monday's first half, like he's been making them his whole life. Spoiler alert: He hasn't. He attempted just 64 in four seasons at Purdue and made just 18 during that time, rougly 4.5 for 16 each season. He's already 1-for-1 at Kansas and, from the way that one looked, he might be willing to pull a few more. We'll have to see what his new head coach thinks about the idea.
— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com
