Takeaways From Champions Classic: Tyrese Maxey’s Breakout, Kansas’ Turnovers and More

For the first time ever, the top four teams in the preseason AP Top 25 poll shared one court at the Champions Classic as No. 3 Kansas vs. No. 4 Duke served as the undercard for No. 1 Michigan State vs. No. 2 Kentucky. The worse-ranked team won both games and both games were decided by single digits.

Here are our immediate takeaways from Duke’s 68-66 win over Kansas and Kentucky’s 69-62 win over Michigan State.

 

Tyrese Maxey could be Kentucky’s best player

Stadium College Basketball Insider Jeff Goodman wrote earlier this week how this year’s Duke and Kentucky teams may not produce an NBA lottery pick for the first time in over a decade.

There’s a long way to go until NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is walking across the stage to announce the first round draft picks in the 2020 NBA Draft so things can obviously change from now until then.

At risk of overreacting to a one-game sample size, Tyrese Maxey made a strong case that he could be Kentucky’s best player this season and the one who potentially proves NBA front office personnel and scouts wrong if they believe there isn’t a lottery pick on Duke or Kentucky’s rosters.

Maxey didn’t start for the Wildcats but he scored a game-high 26 points on an incredibly efficient 7-of-13 shooting, thanks to a 9-of-10 effort from the foul line, along with five rebounds and two assists.

He’s quick with the ball, fearless in attacking opposing defenses and the rim, and while it might sound cliché, he showed that he likely has a knack for taking, and making, tough shots in big moments.

His deep three with a minute left in the game was for all intents and purposes the dagger, extending Kentucky’s lead to 65-60, despite excellent defense by Michigan State’s Aaron Henry earlier in the possession. Maxey ran from right to left across the paint, curled around a screen with Henry just behind him, and the Kentucky freshman had no intention of running any offense or giving up the ball.

That was his shot to take and he made it.

Maxey previously made another deep three in transition in the first half.

Don’t forget, too, that the term “deep three” means more this season since the 3-point line was moved back almost a foot and a half from last season.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen which Duke freshman will be the best of the Blue Devils’ bunch.

Cassius Stanley, the 6-6 guard from L.A., was the team’s second-leading scorer with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting. He rocked the rim a few times on emphatic dunks. Like the ESPN broadcast mentioned a few times, he broke Zion Williamson’s vertical leap record in the offseason so he’s that kind of athlete.

I’d venture to guess that forward Matthew Hurt will lead all Duke freshmen in scoring.

Look, Hurt will need to put on weight, which could be difficult during the season. On one offensive possession, he tried to post up Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji (6-5, 210 lbs.), but Agbaji was able to push Hurt around.

Hurt scored an inefficient 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting but he proved to be a capable 3-pointer shooter, making 3-of-7 attempts from behind the recently extended 3-point arc.

He was 1-of-4 on 2-point jumpers and he missed his only layup attempt, so the 6-9, 214-pound forward’s shooting was less impressive inside the arc.

But 3-point shooting is a welcome skill for a Duke freshman one season after Williamson, the National Player of the Year, shot just 33.8 percent on threes, fellow All-American R.J. Barrett was a 30.8 percent 3-point shooter, fellow five-star freshman Cam Reddish wasn’t much better at 33.3 percent and Tre Jones made just 26.2 percent of his threes.

Vernon Carey, Duke’s highest-rated 2019 enrollee, was a perfect 2-for-2 on 3-pointers, which could give a more modern dimension to the below-the-basket big’s game.

 

Kansas has 28 turnovers, 23 made field goals

The Jayhawks posted an abysmal 34.9 percent turnover rate on Tuesday night, per kenpom.com. Just for reference, Western Carolina finished last nationally last season with a 25.1 percent turnover rate.

There were travels, there was a freshman stepping out of bounds, there was an offensive foul that sent a flying elbow across the neck of Duke’s Tre Jones.

When you commit 28 turnovers, you probably committed every type of turnover possible.

But Kansas still could’ve won the game, which speaks to the Jayhawks’ better shooting than the Blue Devils and their dominance on the glass (40 rebounds to Duke’s 30), especially on the offensive glass – a 34.5 offensive rebounding percentage – as well as Duke’s own turnover issues (16 turnovers).

So whoever was going to win this game was probably going to win ugly.

Kansas Coach Bill Self told ESPN’s Holly Rowe, “We weren’t very good,” during the halftime interview, which was probably an understatement after the Jayhawks’ 18 first-half turnovers.

In college football, drive charts can often tell the story of a game or a half, so let’s do a first-half possession chart for Kansas:

  • Missed layup
  • Made dunk
  • Fouled, made 1-of-2 free throws
  • Made layup
  • Turnover
  • Missed layup
  • Fouled, made 2-of-2 free throws
  • Turnover
  • Made dunk
  • Turnover
  • Turnover
  • Made jumper
  • Turnover
  • Fouled, made 1-of-2 free throws
  • Missed jumper
  • Made 3-pointer
  • Made 3-pointer
  • Turnover
  • Turnover
  • Turnover
  • Missed 3-pointer
  • Missed 3-pointer
  • Turnover
  • Turnover
  • Made layup
  • Turnover
  • Made layup
  • Turnover
  • Missed layup, offensive rebound, missed dunk, offensive rebound, missed layup, offensive rebound, turnover
  • Turnover
  • Turnover
  • Made layup
  • Fouled, made 2-of-2 free throws
  • Turnover
  • Turnover
  • Fouled, made 2-of-2 free throws
  • Missed layup
  • Made layup
  • Missed jumper
  • Turnover

 

Woof.

 

Spartans’ second frontcourt player will be a committee

Last season Michigan State benefited from a veteran, three-man frontcourt rotation of fifth-year senior Kenny Goins (30.4 mpg), junior Nick Ward (20.8 mpg) and sophomore Xavier Tillman (24.0 mpg).

Goins exhausted his eligibility and Ward went pro early, leaving Tillman and a relatively unproven cast of characters to fill the Spartans’ remaining minutes at the “four” and “five.”

Sophomore Thomas Kithier started alongside Tillman after Kithier averaged just over one point and one rebound in 5.8 minutes per game as a freshman last season.

Aaron Henry, Kithier’s classmate who started last season as a freshman, provides some potential lineup versatility to play some small-ball four at 6-6 but he’ll likely more often play on the wing, while the cast of 6-11 Marcus Bingham Jr., and freshmen Julius Marble (6-8) and Malik Hall (6-7) provided Michigan State’s bench boost in the frontcourt.

Tillman had two more rebounds than any other player on the court (eight), along with seven points, and Henry had a fine game with nine points, three assists and two rebounds.

Bingham could see a larger role after a seven-point, six-rebound performance off the bench.

But for the No. 1-ranked Spartans, it might take them and their head coach some time during non-conference play to figure out the best combinations and rotations of their frontcourt players because there’s a lot of them and most are young and/or inexperienced.

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