Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Next up for Kansas is another home game, this time against Holy Cross, Wednesday, December 9.

The Jayhawks are coming off a hard-fought 75-69 win over Harvard on Saturday in which KU struggled to get its offense going against a slow-it-down, zone defense from the Crimson.

Frank Mason III led Kansas with 21 points and was the only real consistent contributor for the Jayhawks.

Into the second half, Landen Lucas came on and became the steady inside presence with the other Kansas forwards struggling to find consistency.

Such a move from Bill Self is the luxury KU has this season. It was mainly Perry Ellis who could never find himself on either end of the floor for the Jayhawks.

Arguably KU’s best player, Ellis is going to be a major factor is the success KU is going to have this season, but for now, Self has the ability to insert a number of players from a very deep bench in order to make up for the lack of production from a starter.

The other issue Kansas fought against was foul trouble from swingman Wayne Selden, Jr.

Selden picked up two fouls midway through the first half, and admittedly a mistake, Self put him back in before the end of the first half, and Selden picked up his third.

Self was forced to sit Selden for the majority of the second half, allowing sophomore Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk to see significant playing time on the perimeter.

While his outside shot wasn’t falling, Mykhailiuk made several exceptional drives to the basket and showed another side of his offensive repertoire. Defensively, Mykhailiuk clearly understands where to be and positioning, but often times gets caught up too easily in ball screens. NBA scouts love the 18-year-old, but strength is his biggest weakness.

As Holy Cross heads to Lawrence, Kan., the Jayhawks will look to improve upon their defense, especially in the low post, as well as finding the constant motor and tenacity Bill Self so desperately wants to see from his team.

Over the past several seasons, KU has lacked a player with a killer mentality; the type of player that wants to completely dominate his opponent. Often times, the Jayhawks sit back and let things come at them as opposed to attacking. In Maui, Kansas attacked and forced the other team to play to its pace. Late in the game against Michigan State, and again in the second half against Harvard on Saturday, the Jayhawks allowed the opponent dictate how the game was going to be played.

Self wants to see his team attack and get much more aggressive on both ends of the floor.

On paper, Kansas should have a significant advantage over Holy Cross. Whether or not KU chooses to exploit that is another story.

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