photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Devonte' Graham (4) yanks a rebound away from Oklahoma State forward Mitchell Solomon (41) during the first half, Thursday, March 8, 2018 at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Wichita — In order to get past Seton Hall and reach the Sweet 16, top-seeded Kansas will have to either thwart or survive one of the Pirates’ best offensive sources: rebounding their own misses.

Averaging 12.2 offensive rebounds per game (37th nationally), Seton Hall thrives at securing second chances due in large part to the presence of 6-foot-10 senior center Angel Delgado, who accounts for 3.7 offensive rebounds an outing.

“I always say it’s like he’s got a magnet in his hands,” Pirates senior Desi Rodriguez said. “The ball’s just attached to his hands when he’s rebounding the ball.”

Delgado, of course, has caught KU’s attention, sophomore forward Mitch Lightfoot said.

“Obviously he’s a great offensive rebounder, knows how to wedge, and box out really well. We’ve got to figure out how to keep him off the glass,” Lightfoot began, before saying the guards around Delgado benefit from his presence, too, crashing and finding angles to track down misses. “They’re a load to box out.”

Player after player in the KU locker room at Intrust Bank Arena mentioned how much Seton Hall (22-11) reminds them of West Virginia, with their physical style of play and tendency to thrive on the offensive glass. WVU averages 14.0 offensive boards and rebounds 34.6% of its misfires. The Pirates’ offensive rebounding percentage of 32.2% ranks 36th in the country.

When KU senior point guard Devonte’ Graham watched video of Seton Hall, though, he saw a style similar to another Big 12 foe in the Pirates’ game.

“That’s a little bit of the physicality that we had to talk about, going ahead and rebounding. They go to the glass just as good as anybody in the country — kind of like Oklahoma State,” Graham said, “in how physical their guards can be and how big they are.”

The Cowboys, who beat Kansas twice during the regular season, average 12.6 offensive rebounds and come away with 32.5% of their missed shots.

The Jayhawks (28-7) have enough experience facing teams that make a living on the offensive glass to know how costly opponents’ second-chance points can be.

Senior Svi Mykhailiuk noted KU will have to play tough and put a body on someone on every defensive trip down the floor.

“And like the guards gotta help Mitch and Silvio (De Sousa) and just to box out, because I don’t think everybody’s on the glass like the point guards,” Mykhailiuk said, “so they just gotta come inside and just help him to rebound.”

With Udoka Azubuike on a minutes restriction, KU won’t have its most consistent defensive rebounder much of the game. But sophomore guard Malik Newman, who has come away with 5 or more rebounds 20 times this season, is more than capable of pitching in and making things easier on Azubuike, De Sousa and Lightfoot.

“I come into every game thinking that if I can get out and rebound then it will help the team,” Newman said, “because now we can start our break and we can play fast. That’s coach’s biggest emphasis. He always wants us to have fun, play with confidence and play fast.”

Throughout the season, Bill Self’s team has faced seven opponents that are similar to Seton Hall from an offensive rebounding standpoint.

KU went 1-2 against Oklahoma State, 3-0 versus West Virginia, 2-0 in matchups with TCU, 1-1 in meetings with Baylor and picked up non-conference victories over Kentucky, Syracuse and Texas A&M. That’s a 10-3 mark overall versus strong offensive rebounding teams.

Lightfoot said Delgado reminds him a little bit of both Sagaba Konate and Kenrich Williams in his pursuit of missed shots. So can the Jayhawks reference the success they’ve had in those matchups and others as they prepare to take on Seton Hall and Delgado?

“Yes and no,” Lightfoot said. “It’s kind of hard to say, ‘I played well against this guy, so I’m going to play well against this guy.’ I think that we’ve just got to learn from those games and just come out and play hard. If we play hard then we will be hard to stop.”