Kansas forward Carlton Bragg Jr. (15) and Kansas guard Lagerald Vick (2) celebrate a second-half three from guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse.

For many, statistics are the first things studied to see where basketball players are either falling short or standing out. For coaches, it tends to be the last place, but they do get around to it.

Even for coaches, some numbers leap right off the page. Kansas coach Bill Self mentioned a pair of them in regards to sixth man Lagerald Vick, a long, slender, 6-foot-5, 175-pound sophomore from Memphis.

Vick has a quick first step, which coupled with his long arms gives him tremendous potential as a disruptive defender capable of prowling the passing lanes for steals that become dunks. Always beware of the word potential. It means it hasn’t happened yet.

After mentioning that Vick and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk both are shooting .444 from 3-point range, Self momentarily shocked the room into silence when he cited Vick’s steal numbers: Nine in 407 minutes.

At first, it didn’t make sense. Upon further reflection, it lost its shock value. An inexperienced player still paralyzed by thinking about what he’s supposed to be doing, instead of instinctively doing it, Vick too often is neither here nor there, rather over there, outside the play.

Sometimes, it’s better to do the wrong thing than to do nothing at all. Too often, an inexperienced athlete’s fear of being in the wrong place doing the wrong thing can turn him into a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land, making all his nowhere plans for nobody, as John Lennon might say.

Vick sometimes lives in that land on the court. Those moments will become fewer and fewer as he gains experience, the sooner the better for a Kansas team using a seven-man rotation.

“I don’t think he’s very active,” Self said. “He’s not rebounding, not creating extra possessions.”

Vick has been all or nothing as a rebounder. He has totaled more than three rebounds in just 4 of 15 games, all four of those coming in an early season, five-game stretch: Duke (five), Siena (eight), Georgia (eight), UNC Asheville (nine).

“He and Josh (Jackson) would be our best two offensive rebounders, and Josh is at times, but Lagerald hasn’t been, and of course he should be more active on the defensive end,” Self said. “That’s not being mean, that’s just a fact.”

As for Vick averaging one steal every 45 minutes, Self said, “a guy that athletic … that can’t be. So that tells you that I think what he can improve on as much as anything is his activity, and we’ve said this a lot, but it’s a fact. It’s a fact.”

Vick proved early in the season, during that productive stretch, he’s capable of inserting himself into the game, so he can do it again.