After an incident occurred involving Kansas Jayhawks junior forward Jamari Traylor, head coach Bill Self decided on Monday that Traylor will not play when the Jayhawks travel to the Verizon Center on Wednesday to play the 4-2 Georgetown Hoyas.
Traylor was arrested after reportedly interfering with the performance of officers, and with a Georgetown team that does have some size on its roster, the suspension is going to be on that will makes things considerably more difficult for the Kansas frontcourt if they plan on escaping with a victory.
Up to this point, Kansas had had two tests of their size when they faced off against Kentucky and Florida. As you may know, the Jayhawks miserably failed their test against the towering Kentucky Wildcats. Kansas’ big men combined for 14 points on 3-for-21 shooting from the field and were clearly overmatched from start to finish.
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In Kansas’ second test against Florida, the Jayhawks gave up 29 points to Florida’s Jon Horford, Dorian Finney-Smith and Chris Walker, but Kansas’ big men were able to contribute 24 points in a comeback effort to knock of the Gators 71-65.
It’s worth noting Traylor contributed only two points on 0-of-8 field goals in 41 minutes in these two matchups, with only seven rebounds to add, but don’t let the numbers make it seem as if Traylor has no significant value to a fairly undersized Jayhawks’ roster.
Despite the lack of offensive production in some early battles, there’s no denying Traylor’s value as a big, physical body in the paint that causes problems for opposing big men, and this is where his absence in the Georgetown game on Wednesday could prove to be a huge issue for the Jayhawks.
The Hoyas will feature each of their bigger bodies with 6’10” center, Joshua Smith, 6’9” forward, Isaac Copeland, 6’9” forward, Michael Hopkins and 6’8” forward Paul White. 6’9” Trey Mourning and 7’0” Bradley Hayes will likely play as well.
That’s six guys who stand at least 6’8”, and the only realistic options for Kansas to throw at the Hoyas will be 6’8 “ forward, Perry Ellis and Cliff Alexander, along with 6’10” Landen Lucas.
This isn’t exactly the kind of matchup Bill Self will want for his team that’s now missing another big body after they’ve already been overmatched in their first two true tests of the season.
With Kansas already having this size disadvantage in Wednesday’s matchup, it’s going to be crucial that the entire roster steps up and makes the lives of Lucas, Ellis and Alexander easier in order to not allow Kansas to drop it’s second non-conference game of the season in their first eight games.
And this comes in the game before the Jayhawks will face yet another massive frontcourt when they see No. 13 Utah on Saturday. It’s unsure whether or not Traylor will be out for the Utah game, as well.
With conference play seemingly right around the corner, this could end up becoming a suspension that drastically hurts the Jayhawks.
If Kansas were to enter the grueling Big 12 schedule with two or three losses and a glaring weakness in the paint that they’ve yet to fix, teams like Texas are going to have their eyes feasted upon a Big 12 championship with little resistance from the Jayhawks lack of size.
We’ll see how impactful this Traylor suspension ultimately turns out to be, but with their next couple games already seeing disadvantages for Kansas, things could go south quick for the No. 10 Jayhawks.