Kansas had the game well in hand when Luke Barnett finally got his chance Friday night, and the freshman guard made the most of it in a hurry.
With the Jayhawks cruising past Middle Tennessee State, 89-45, Barnett entered with 7:02 left and KU up by 41. From there, the 6-foot-4 freshman from Laguna Niguel, California, put on the kind of shooting burst teammates say they’ve seen before in practice: three straight 3-pointers on three consecutive Kansas possessions over a two-minute stretch.
He missed his next try, a fourth straight 3 that would have pushed him to 12 points almost instantly, but he still finished with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, all from beyond the arc, in 7 1/2 minutes.
“I think we’re used to it by now,” KU forward Keanu Dawes said after scoring eight points with eight rebounds in 19 minutes.
Senior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who led Kansas with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting, plus four rebounds, two assists and a block in 18 minutes, said the hot shooting didn’t surprise anyone inside the program.
“One hundred percent we’re used to it,” he said. “We see it in practice every day.”
Barnett had only logged four minutes in Monday’s 95-65 win over Fordham, and he missed both of his shots in that one. Bill Self said he expected the freshman to break through once he got a real run.
“I actually told the guys as soon as he checked in, ‘He’s going to make 3 in 3 (shots),’” Self said. “Of course I didn’t have a crystal ball, but I did think he was due to shoot the ball well.
He can shoot it. That was great to see because he really hadn’t had a chance yet.”
Barnett’s reputation as a scorer traces back to Mater Dei High School, where he scored a school-record 55 points in a game and set another school record with 12 3-pointers in one outing. He left as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 2,244 points and the career leader in made 3s with 419.
He has said he models his game after Klay Thompson and Devin Booker because, in his words, “they are guys who can shoot and score efficiently.”
Self said the production Barnett shows in practice is very real.
“Yes, he’s gotten really hot,” Self said. “When he’s on the scout team, there are a lot of times we can’t guard him when they’re running the other team’s actions. So maybe we should just let that team run their offense whenever they get in.
“But yes, he’s got a quick trigger. He’s a good player.
I think the way he plays in practice obviously is with more freedom than he does if he’s playing with four other starters out there on the court. So he’s going to have to get used to that.”
Kansas shot 62.5% overall, finishing 35 of 56 from the field, but was only 12 of 22 at the line.
The bigger story was the defense. KU led 36-14 at halftime after holding Middle Tennessee to 18.8% shooting, including 1 of 12 from 3-point range. The Blue Raiders finished 17 of 68 from the field and 7 of 27 from deep.
Middle Tennessee’s 14 first-half points were the fewest allowed by a KU team in a half since TCU scored nine on Feb. 23, 2013.
The Blue Raiders’ 45 points were the fewest Kansas has surrendered since Kansas State scored 41 on Feb. 17, 2021.
Kansas, now 2-0, heads to Chicago for the Champions Classic, where it will face Kentucky, also 2-0, at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
In Other News...
Kansas May Have A Trey Kaufman-Renn Problem Bill Self Can't Ignore
The eligibility fight around Trey Kaufman-Renn has become one of those offseason wrinkles Kansas cant just brush past. The NCAA is appealing a preliminary injunction from Indiana Special Judge Justin Mills that would give the Purdue transfer an extra year of eligibility, and that uncertainty matters because Bill Self has already included Kaufman-Renn on the Jayhawks roster while the conference continues to sort through its rules on professional athletes.
There is also the NBA angle hanging over the situation. Kaufman-Renn was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2026 NBA Draft, but he was not signed to a professional contract, which leaves his status in a gray area Kansas has to monitor closely. For a program trying to line up its roster plans, this is exactly the kind of case that cant be ignored, even if the final answer is still unresolved. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Faces A Troubling QB Question As UCF Gets A Lift
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Kansas, meanwhile, is sorting through its own uncertainty under center, with Isaiah Marshall, Cole Ballard and Chase Jenkins all listed as questionable before the trip. Lance Leipold has been stressing the need for cleaner execution and better pass protection, and the Jayhawks may need both if they want to keep pace with a UCF group that is suddenly getting a lift at quarterback while still dealing with its own injury questions. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Looks Dangerous Early But One Concern Still Lingers
Kansas opened its latest outing with the kind of balance that can make an early-season team look far ahead of schedule. The Jayhawks rolled past Middle Tennessee 89-45, leaning on a defense that smothered almost everything in sight while the offense found enough rhythm to keep the margin growing. Trey Kaufman-Renn, making his first start with Kansas, added 17 points in 18 minutes and gave the lineup another useful jolt.
Even with the lopsided result, the box score left a familiar area for Kansas to keep monitoring. The Jayhawks were not sharp from three-point range or at the free-throw line, two spots that can matter much more once the competition tightens and the margin for error shrinks. For a team that already looks dangerous in other ways, those shooting issues are the main reminder that there is still work to do. [Read more 🡒]