KU hoops just lost its first game at home this season
LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball’s 2023-24 season continued Tuesday with a 76-68 loss at home in Big 12 Conference play against BYU.
Here are a few takeaways from the No. 9 Jayhawks (21-7, 9-6 in Big 12) defeat against the Cougars (20-8, 8-7 in Big 12):
BYU doesn’t disappoint, elects to take a lot of 3s
BYU came into the game as a team well known for how much it relied on 3s offensively. And it didn’t disappoint against Kansas. The Cougars took their first attempt within the first minute of the game, and tallied 34 — 60.7% of their shots from the field overall — by game’s end. BYU finished 13-for-34 (38.2%) from behind the arc.
That total is in stark contrast to Kansas.
The Jayhawks shot 3-for-15 (20%) from behind the arc on Tuesday. Freshman guard Johnny Furphy struggled, finishing 0-for-5 on three-point shots.
Kansas already lacks depth, and in the first half it almost became worse
During the first half of Kansas’ game Tuesday, graduate senior guard Nicolas Timberlake fell hard onto the court and needed to leave the game for a short period of time. He appeared to limp as he received assistance from staffers. While he did end up returning, his absence brought into focus how little depth Kansas is operating with right now.
Considering graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. was unavailable Tuesday, due to injury, the Jayhawks tipped the game off with eight healthy scholarship players. Had Timberlake not returned, the Jayhawks would have had to go against BYU with just seven scholarship players.
Kansas fails to remain undefeated at home
Kansas came into the game 14-0 inside Allen Fieldhouse this season. Even without a guy like McCullar, at times, the Jayhawks had been able to prevail. But they’ve now suffered their first loss at home in a matchup that mattered in the Big 12 regular season title race.
On Tuesday, senior center Hunter Dickinson delivered another doubledouble with his 17-point, 11-rebound performance. Furphy (10 points), redshirt senior guard Dajuan Harris Jr. (12 points) and junior forward KJ Adams Jr. (11 points) joined him in double figures scoring. Those efforts just weren’t enough.
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.