Kansas guard Marcus Garrett (0) steals a ball from Stanford forward KZ Okpala (0) during the second half on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018 at Allen Fieldhouse.

No. 5 Kansas Jayhawks (10-1) vs. Eastern Michigan Eagles (6-6)

Time: 1 p.m. | Location: Allen Fieldhouse

TV: Jayhawk TV/ESPN+ | Radio: IMG Jayhawk Radio Network

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Keys for Kansas

1. Run better offense

Down the stretch in KU’s loss to Arizona State last Saturday, the Jayhawks put together a string of bad possessions offensively, with quick shots, careless passes and a complete abandoning of the game plan that worked so well all throughout the game — getting the ball to junior forward Dedric Lawson.

After a week off, and a handful of two-a-day practices during the latter part of the week, KU coach Bill Self is hoping to see improved execution on the offensive end against Eastern Michigan.

And the Jayhawks could not be facing a much better opponent for a bounce-back opportunity.

The Eagles allow the most assists per field goals made in the entire country, ranking dead last in 353rd place among Division I teams in that category. Opponents are scoring on assisted field goals a whopping 71.4 percent of the time against EMU, and that fact, combined with the increased focus on better awareness of time, score and situation, should lead to a better, more fluid offensive showing by the Jayhawks.

Most of that will mean going to Lawson early and often, but, with junior center Udoka Azubuike possibly returning for at least a few minutes, it could also mean pounding the ball into the Jayhawks’ other most effective scorer in the paint.

Regardless of who gets what, Self’s eyes figure to be fixed on watching how smoothly things run and what the Jayhawks do to get points after their initial offense breaks down and they’re running secondary stuff behind it.

2. Give Garrett a break

With sophomore guard Marcus Garrett slated to start at the 4 for the fifth straight game with Azubuike out of the starting lineup, Self is hoping to be able to pull back some on his reliance on Garrett.

The Dallas sophomore’s steady hand and elite defensive ability has kept him on the floor for 30 minutes or more in three of those five games without Azubuike, and Self is hoping to give Garrett a little more time to rest in this one.

The reason? Partly because Garrett is playing too many minutes and also because keeping Garrett out of the perimeter rotation is forcing KU’s other guards to play big minutes in the backcourt, as well.

“We’ve been playing Marcus too many minutes,” Self said Friday. “I mean, he’s not a 37-minute, 35-minute a game guy. Not that he can’t do that physically, it’s just we need to mix it up. We’re playing perimeter guys too many minutes, in large part because he’s playing so many minutes at the 4. So if we can mix him in more on the perimeter, I think we can cut back some minutes on the perimeter and then give some of those bigs more minutes.”

That means a potential increase in minutes for Mitch Lightfoot and/or David McCormack, and Self said their ability to play decent minutes and play well while out there will go a long way toward helping Kansas handle a bigger, stronger EMU lineup.

“I do think those guys are important,” Self said of Lightfoot and McCormack. “In large part because we’re going to play two bigs the majority of the time.”

3. Junk it up for JT4

Eastern Michigan senior James Thompson IV is one of the tougher, more athletic big men the Jayhawks will have faced this season.

Through 12 games, the fifth-year senior is averaging 9.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, while shooting 63.3 percent from the floor in just 28 minutes per game.

While watching film of EMU during the past week, Self said he tried to think of a player that the 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward reminded him of, but added that nobody immediately came to mind because of Thompson’s versatility.

“Nobody that we’ve had,” Self said.

As for Thompson’s strengths, Self said Thompson does the bulk of his damage closer to the rim. As a result, it would benefit the Jayhawks to throw different bodies, looks and defensive strategies at Thompson to keep the EMU leader from getting into too much of a rhythm.

“He’s more of a low-block guy,” Self said. “He can score facing, but he’s really effective around the basket, and he’s athletic. He’s big and he’s long and he blocks shots and scores. He’s a nice player.”

He’s far from the only “nice player” on the EMU roster, though, according to Self. And despite the Eagles being the lowest-ranked KenPom.com team on KU’s 2018-19 schedule at No. 190 — South Dakota ranked No. 187 and Louisiana No. 149 — Self said Eastern Michigan has a team that could give Kansas problems if the Jayhawks are at all sluggish after the holiday break.

“They’ve got really good athletes,” Self said. “I think this will be a game where our fans show up and think, ‘We’re playing some guys tonight.'”

Mega Matchup

KU’s 3-point shooting vs. Eastern Michigan’s 2-3 zone

Given the fact that EMU coach Rob Murphy was an assistant under Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim from 2004-11, it comes as no surprise that the Eagles, like the Orange, are known for their zone defense.

Dubbed by Self a “pretty traditional, really high 2-3 zone,” the Eagles extend on the wings, move with purpose all over the defensive end and try to force opposing offenses into starting their sets as far away from the basket as possible.

The best way to beat any zone is through good ball movement and shooting over the top, and both have been issues at times for the Jayhawks so far this season.

“They’re going to play zone,” Self emphasized. “And if you play zone with us, you worry about making shots, and we haven’t played against but a couple possessions of zone all year. It’s been kind of surprising that nobody’s played us much zone.”

Last year, in back-to-back games no less, the Jayhawks faced Boeheim’s zone in a win over Syracuse in Miami and were victimized by the zone — and another Boeheim disciple — in a loss to Washington at Sprint Center.

The mixed results last season against a similar defense makes this game even more interesting to see how KU handles the zone without the same 3-point shooting threats.

“I would say attacking their zone,” said Self when asked what aspect of his team’s offense he was most eager to watch in this one. “It’s Syracuse zone. It’s Washington zone. If Devonte’ (Graham) didn’t make shots last year against Syracuse, that would’ve given us all kinds of problems, and Washington, we know what they did to us. It’s the same zone.”

Jayhawk Pulse

It’s been a week since the Jayhawks lost their first game of the season, an 80-76, fall-from-in-front setback at Arizona State in which KU led for more than 37 minutes of the 40-minute game.

And while the loss stung at the time and the pain lingered some into the holiday break, Self said he was not worried at all about his team’s mental state heading into its final tuneup before the start of Big 12 play on Jan. 2.

“This early in the season, it’s not a huge deal,” Self said of the loss. “And I think we’ll bounce back fine. We’re going to obviously lose again and everybody in the country will, as well. I think people on the outside think it’s a bad thing when that happens, but people on the inside know that’s part of the deal. It happens. You never want it to lose, but it happens, especially when you play away from home against a quality opponent. I think they’re disappointed, but I don’t sense a panic deal at all.”

Asked Friday how he thought his teammates had responded to dropping their first game and falling out of the No. 1 spot in the polls, Garrett gave an answer that sounded an awful lot like the one his head coach gave.

“We’ve responded great,” Garrett said. “We know that’s just one loss. We shouldn’t take it like the season is over or anything like that.”

Probable Starters

No. 5 Kansas

G – Devon Dotson, 6-2, 185, Fr.

G – Quentin Grimes, 6-5, 210, Fr.

G – Lagerald Vick, 6-5, 190, Sr.

G – Marcus Garrett, 6-5, 195, Soph.

F – Dedric Lawson, 6-9, 235, Jr.

Eastern Michigan

G – Malik Ellison, 5-8, 170, Soph.

G – Kevin McAdoo, 6-2, 162, Soph.

F – Ty Groce, 6-7, 195, RS-Fr.

F – Elijah Minnie, 6-9, 200, RS-Sr.

F – James Thompson IV, 6-10, 240, Sr.