Monday afternoon, coach Bill Self wished for a lead guard.
Tuesday, during the Jayhawks’ 90-59 scorching of the Emporia State Hornets, he may have found one in the form of junior guard Tyshawn Taylor. For the second time in the exhibition season, Taylor showed much more control than in his past two years in a Kansas uniform.
Taylor, who was infuriating for Self and fans alike with his inconsistent play in an up-and-down sophomore year, has done, so far, exactly what Self said he expected at Big 12 media days.
“Be up.”
He was impressive Tuesday night, finishing with six assists, one shy of his career high, and 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting. A week ago, he was the Jayhawks’ second-leading scorer with 12 points and had three assists to zero turnovers.
“He made some great plays,” Self said.
Of course, with the good, comes the bad — especially in the exhibition season. Taylor had three of the Jayhawks’ 15 turnovers on his otherwise excellent night.
“He can also throw it out of bounds under no pressure, too, by being careless,” Self said.
Taylor has sort of become the point guard by default since Kansas’ winningest player of all time Sherron Collins graduated last May and signed a contract with the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats. Taylor won’t be the offensive force Collins was — not many players can be — but the 15.5 points per game Collins averaged last year will have to be replaced by someone. That will either be Taylor, who averaged 7.2 points per game last season, or the teammates he distributes the ball to.
“Now he doesn’t have Sherron to shoot on his left and his right,” Markieff Morris said, “so now he’s got to make better decisions with the ball.”
Travis Releford, who may have earned himself a greater role with his out-of-nowhere 12-point, three-rebound performance, said he’s seen a jump from Taylor, thanks in part to the two years of playing alongside Collins. Releford was on the receiving end of one of Taylor’s six assists.
“Tyshawn, I mean, he’s learned a lot from Sherron,” he said. “This is his time to step up, take control of the team.”
Self said Taylor is stepping into the role, filled last year by Collins, in words as much as in deeds.
“He’s really trying to talk and be a leader,” Self said. “He’s done a good job.”
One thing Taylor hasn’t shown the ability to replicate is the outside shooting of Collins. He missed both of his threes against Emporia State and has hit less than 34 percent of his outside shots as a Jayhawk. Collins, for comparison’s sake, hit nearly 38 percent of his threes.
Collectively, the team is just 7-for-31 from three-point range this season.
“Coach is on us about it, but we’ll get better,” Releford said.