Zone defense helps KU defeat Georgia 65-54 for CBE Hall of Fame Classic title

A staunch believer in man-to-man defense, Bill Self didn’t want to use a 2-3 zone during a majority of Tuesday night’s CBE Hall of Fame Classic championship game against Georgia at the Sprint Center.

“We’ve practiced it five minutes the whole year, maybe 10,” said Self, Kansas’ 14th-year coach, after the No. 5-ranked Jayhawks’ 65-54 victory over the Bulldogs in front of 12,147 fans who could see clearly why Self called for about 30 minutes of zone.

“If you can’t guard their bigs, can’t rebound out of a man … we had to try to do something to keep the ball out of No. 1’s hands. We had to try to do something,” Self said.

The man wearing Georgia’s jersey No. 1 — Yante Maten, who torched the Jayhawks KU for 30 points and 13 rebounds — scored 15 points to pace the SEC’s Bulldogs, 3-2, to a 20-19 lead with 9:54 left in the first half.

Going to a simple 2-3 zone sparked a 16-4 run that gave the Jayhawks, 4-1, a 35-24 lead right before halftime. Frank Mason (19 points, five rebounds) and Devonté Graham (14 points, four steals), who made the all-tournament team along with MVP Josh Jackson (15 points, career-high 11 boards) scored six points apiece in the run.

KU’s starting bigs — Landen Lucas had no points and two rebounds in 10 minutes, and Carlton Bragg had three points and one board in 10 minutes — were ineffective in the man defense. Freshman big Udoka Azubuike played just five minutes because he is not familiar with a zone that KU uses on such an infrequent basis.

It was Dwight Coleby, a junior transfer from Mississippi, who contributed big-time inside. He had four blocks, four rebounds and two points while playing 20 minutes in front of his dad, Dwight, Sr., who had made the trip in from his native Bahamas to watch his son play.

“I thought he bailed us out,” Self said of Coleby. “Think about it. He got four blocks, two points, four rebounds. Every time he checked out of the game, our fans cheered for him. What other bigs did they cheer for when they checked out of the game? All because he (Coleby) tried. He played with energy. I don’t think it’s that hard to please our fans if you give great effort and play intelligently. He did what he could tonight. At least he was able to plug the middle some and be a bit of a presence inside.”

As far as bigs Bragg and Lucas … “they are not playing very well, not playing very smart,” Self said. “Not contributing at all over here (in two games in the CBE Classic).

“They are good kids. They want to do well. For whatever reason they both have really struggled. Udoka … I should have played him the whole time,” Self added, again explaining he went with Coleby because he’s at least “played it (2-3) before.”

Self praised Georgia junior forward Maten, saying … “he is good but we’ll go against some other guys who are really good players, too. To have one post guy get 30 and 13 against your guys who don’t scratch, we can’t win that way. Hopefully we’ll get them to play like they are capable of playing. We’re struggling now.”

KU opened the second half in a man defense but abandoned it quickly. Maten hit a three, and something else happened in the early going.

“It took 37 seconds (into the final half) for both our bigs to pick up bad fouls,” Self said of Bragg and Lucas. “What saved us was the zone. We went to zone after that. They couldn’t throw it in the ocean (three of 18 threes to KU’s six of 21). It was fortunate for us. That’s the most (zone) we’ve (ever) played.”

KU’s Jackson, who hit six of 11 shots in 35 minutes, said the Jayhawks, who led by nine at half and as many as 17 in the second half before Georgia whittled the lead down to eight (57-49 at 4:52), had mixed emotions about playing zone.

“It was kind of new to us. It worked,” Jackson said. “For our pride a little bit, we wanted to play man. It was more about winning the game. We had to go zone. When he put us out there it seemed like it was working,” Jackson added. “So we figured, ‘Why come out of it?’ Don’t fix it if it is not broke.”

Of the zone, KU senior guard Mason said: “It worked really well for us. We don’t practice it much. Hopefully we don’t have to use zone again. We take pride in guarding our man and try to play man-to-man the whole game.”

KU will next meet UNC Asheville at 7 p.m., Friday in Allen Fieldhouse.

Coleby fares well in front of dad

Coleby was enthused playing before his dad. Dwight, Jr., who is coming off last year’s ACL surgery, played just five minutes in the first four games. He played 20 minutes Tuesday.

“It was great. I didn’t really know what to expect him coming here to watch me play,” said Dwight Jr. “I finally had a game I was out there a lot. I knew he was happy to see me play.”

Of his surgically repaired knee, Coleby said: “It’s very close (to normal). I can’t really say a percentage but it feels great. My body feels great.”

Fox understands Self’s strategy

Georgia coach Mark Fox is well aware that KU rarely implements a zone defense.

“He’s smart,” Fox said of KU coach Self. “We were able to score against their man and draw fouls. He’s a smart coach, one of the all-time best. Their zone was effective.”

Of the game, Fox said: “You’ve got to make shots to win. We didn’t shoot very well (31.7 percent to KU’s 38.7). I give Kansas’ defense credit for that. We had our chances, we just didn’t seize the moment. We thought we could win the game. We’re disappointed we didn’t win the game.”

Recruiting update

Kenny Wooten, a 6-8 senior forward from Trinity Christian High School in Las Vegas, who has cut his list to KU, Arizona, USC, Cal and Oregon, on Tuesday tweeted that he would definitely enroll in college for the second semester. He is not ranked by Rivals.com or ESPN.com.

The Manteca, Calif., native signed with Nevada last school year but was granted a release from his letter of intent and reclassified to the class of 2017.

Immanuel Quickley, a 6-4 junior point guard from John Carroll High in Bel Air, Md., announced on Twitter that he’s cut his recruiting list to eight schools: KU, Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, Miami, Providence, Virginia and Washington.

He’s ranked No. 12 in the Class of 2018 according to Rivals.com.

This story was originally published November 23, 2016 at 7:37 AM with the headline "Zone defense helps KU defeat Georgia 65-54 for CBE Hall of Fame Classic title."