‘Not a formula for success’: KU’s Wilson is scoring in bunches. Can Jayhawks help him out?

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Kansas forward Jalen Wilson couldn’t catch his breath.

KU big man KJ Adams set a quick screen for Wilson, who then quickly rose for a shot. Wilson buried the three-pointer over the outstretched hands of Iowa State guard Caleb Grill.

The shot cut Iowa State’s lead to five early in the first half on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum. A few minutes later, Wilson hit another deep three-pointer to make it a two-point game.

Every time the game appeared out of KU’s grasp early on, Wilson would hit a timely bucket to keep Kansas hanging around. But eventually, as one might expect, Wilson’s singlehanded scoring effort couldn’t keep up with Iowa State’s balanced scoring load in a 68-53 loss.

Wilson was the only KU player to finish with double-digit points (26), while ISU had three players (Jaren Holmes, Osun Osunniya and Tre King) hit that mark.

Two more Cyclones finished with nine points apiece: Caleb Grill and Tamin Lipsey.

Wilson’s top teammate? Eight.

KU has suffered from a lack of consistent scoring behind Wilson this season, which was again the case in Ames, Iowa. Wilson’s 26 points came on 7-for-16 (43.8% shooting), and he also grabbed nine rebounds. His 10 teammates that appeared in the game made 10 total shots.

“Jalen tried to carry us; it’s not a formula for success for us,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “We need balance from our starting five, and one guy has to feel like he’s got to go do it all on his own — it crashes the offense.”

It also leads to big minute totals for Wilson, who played all but one minute of game time. Wilson averages 38 minutes per game in road games and played five more minutes on Saturday than his next closest teammate.

“He gets tired just like everyone else, so it’s hard for him to play that many minutes and try to score and play defense on the other end,” KU forward KJ Adams said. ”So it’s good when we have another offensive presence. It really helps him. So when he’s well-rested he doesn’t have to shoot all the shots we make him take.”

Wilson has scored 20-plus points in six straight games, but KU’s record in that span is 2-4. On Saturday, that scoring was necessary from the jump.

The forward sank a three for KU’s first points of the game, which perfectly encapsulated the first half. Wilson scored 12 of KU’s 21 points in the period, making as many shots (4-for-11 shooting) as his teammates (nine points, 4-for-14 shooting).

KU has relied on freshman guard Gradey Dick to be its secondary scorer this season, but he’s been in a shooting slump lately.

Dick scored seven points shooting 2-for-6 from the floor. In his last three games, he’s shot 8-for-25 from the floor (32%) and 3-for-12 (25%) from beyond the arc.

KU guards Dajuan Harris and Kevin McCullar shoot a decent percentage from three but aren’t high-volume shooters. The pair combined for four points on 0-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc.

Hence, KU was left with Wilson’s attacking approach.

Without it, “we wouldn’t be able to score the ball because there’s such poor ball and body movement,” Self said.” It’s not a formula for success at all.”