Self not sounding alarms after Kansas loses again
WACO, Texas – At first glance it’s alarming to see Kansas men’s basketball post three consecutive losses. Ahead of Monday, only Dajuan Harris Jr. and Jalen Wilson had experienced this kind of slide under coach Bill Self. That was during the 2020-21 campaign in their second season at Kansas.
Then came Monday, and a matchup on the road against No. 17 Baylor. No. 9 Kansas entered already having lost back-toback games against other Big 12 Conference opponents also ranked in the current Top 25. The Jayhawks suffered a 75-69 defeat in a game they held the lead for less than a minute.
Self wasn’t sounding any alarms postgame as he reflected on his team’s recent slide out of first place in the conference standings. Neither he nor the players who spoke with reporters afterward came across as dejected. And for Kansas to turn this around, especially with an SEC/Big 12 Challenge game at Kentucky looming Saturday, that kind of perspective can’t dissipate.
“There is time to be reactive in a negative way if your team’s not doing well; this is not one of our times,” Self said.
“I mean, we have gotten beat, granted. We got beat to a team that was projected to win the league tonight that’s really good, and they went through the same crap we’re going through right now. We got beat by a team (Kansas State) that’s fifth in the country right now at their place by one. And we got beat at home (against TCU) that could have beat anybody in the country Saturday.
“So, our league is that good. It’s going to be a grind.”
Self continued: “Our team isn’t talented enough that we can be disappointed when teams of equal talent play better than us and get frustrated with it. We don’t have as much margin for error as we’ve had in years past, and that’s OK. But you don’t have quite as much margin for error, and the other teams in the league are a lot better, it makes it tough. So, the difference in our league than in past – there’s just not games that you can look saying, ‘We can get well here.’ I mean, there’s none of those games.”
The first step to ensuring three losses don’t lead to a fourth could be uncovering why Kansas struggles to keep pace with its opponent early in games. Baylor led by as many as 13 points in the first half, TCU as many as 22 and Kansas State as many as 14. Twice the Jayhawks nearly rallied to win, against Baylor and Kansas State, but each time the deficits took their toll.
As Wilson said, once they give another team that much confidence it’s hard to take that edge away. As Self allowed, Kansas’ issues in the first half aren’t exclusive to these three defeats. And while better play wouldn’t have guaranteed the Jayhawks the lead at halftime in any of the three contests, they would have had energy to spend later on that they used up attempting to claw their way back in.
Against Baylor, Kansas allowed the Bears to have a plus-nine advantage in offensive rebounds and plus-12 advantage in second-chance points. Kansas also committed 15 turnovers to Baylor’s nine and scored eight points off turnovers to the Bears’ 19. Kansas weathered Baylor’s initial storm and saw success in Wilson reaching 23 points and freshman guard Gradey Dick 24, but ultimately fell short again.