Kevin McCullar Jr. didn’t play vs. BYU, but that’s not why Kansas lost
LAWRENCE — For a moment Tuesday night, it looked as if Kansas basketball would have to go for the win with seven healthy scholarship players available.
In the first half, graduate senior guard Nicolas Timberlake had to exit the game after falling to the ground hard. Initially, it was unclear if he would return. So the short span of time that passed before Timberlake reentered the game meant an anxious period for Jayhawks fans.
But while Timberlake did return, and played through the rest of the matchup against BYU, it didn’t lead to a Kansas win. The No. 9 Jayhawks ended up losing 76-68 against the Cougars in a critical Big 12 Conference contest. And even though Kansas was without graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. again due to injury, for the fifth time this season, it’s clear the Jayhawks had their opportunities to win anyway.
“It’ll help if we have all of our — had Kevin back,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “But … we’ve been dealing with this for about, I’d say, five weeks where he hasn’t been himself from a health standpoint. Even when he played he wasn’t himself. And so, we’re not counting on it. We hope it could happen, but we’re certainly not banking on it.”
Kansas is 3-2 in games McCullar, who’s been dealing with what’s been described as a bone bruise, hasn’t played. The wins have come against Oklahoma State, Baylor and Texas, which were all at home. The losses have come against Texas Tech on the road and, now, BYU at home.
This loss against the Cougars (20-8, 8-7 in Big 12) saw the Jayhawks, and especially senior center Hunter Dickinson, struggle from the free-throw line. The Jayhawks struggled to connect on enough shots from the field that came close to the basket, in a game they were going to be at a disadvantage offensively with how much more heavily the Cougars rely on 3s. Self mentioned both issues postgame as ones that stood out to him, while also noting that BYU was just the better team Tuesday.
Kansas freshman guard Johnny Furphy highlighted postgame that Self’s message to them was the Cougars played the way the Jayhawks expected, and that it came down to not executing the scouting report. Furphy, like Self, noted the difficulty that’s added on with McCullar being out. But that’s something Kansas (21-7, 9-6 in Big 12) has shown the ability to persevere through before, and Tuesday it just didn’t happen.
“I think the guys are pretty used to the roles now, at this point,” Dickinson said. “I think this is probably like our fourth, maybe fifth, game without him. And so, I think — I don’t think it’s new to us at this point. I think we’ve kind of just got to play in those roles now that they’ve been established.”
Dickinson, along with redshirt senior guard Dajuan Harris Jr. and junior forward KJ Adams Jr., are the three people Self looks to as leaders with McCullar out. Self volunteered he doesn’t know if anyone assumed that role Tuesday. Maybe Harris, Self added, because of how much the ball was in Harris’ hands.
Regardless, Kansas has to turn its attention to a game Saturday against No. 14 Baylor. It’ll be on the road, where the Jayhawks are 3-5 this season. And when that game tips off, Kansas can’t struggle with its composure the way Self saw it struggle against BYU.
“I actually saw some things with guys’ frustration that really wasn’t as mature as what we should have, considering the age of some of our guys,” Self said. “There wasn’t as much of thinking next play as there was thinking last play, and that’s not a good sign.”
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka CapitalJournal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.