The Kansas Jayhawks up and down season continued on Tuesday night with a 91-87 win over UCF just a few days after blowing a late lead in regulation—and first overtime—in a double overtime 92-86 loss to No. 6 Houston. Their record is 15-5, but there is still some cause for concern despite the No. 11 national ranking and No. 5 ranking in the Big 12 standings.
The late-game struggles against Houston were baffling. It’s worth noting that this is now twice in the same season that I’ve seen a “first” under a Bill Self-led Kansas basketball team. Against West Virginia on New Year’s Eve, Kansas only scored 20 points in the first half, the lowest first-half total at home in the Bill Self era.
In their home game against Houston, Kansas turned the ball over three times in the final 35 seconds of the game, allowing the Cougars the opportunity to force overtime. With 18 seconds left in the first overtime period, Kansas led 79-73 with Dejuan Harris at the free throw line. He missed both free throws, and Kansas allowed two three-pointers in the final eight seconds of the game to allow Houston to push the game to a second overtime. It’s the first time in the Bill Self era at Kansas that the Jayhawks have led by six points in the final 20 seconds of a home game and lost.
There’s plenty of blame to go around in the end-of-game scenario against Houston. Bill Self should have called timeout before the five second inbounds violation was called. Harris should have made his free throws. Zeke Mayo should have made better passes. Hunter Dickinson should have played better defense. That loss to Houston was a true team loss, coaches and players alike. Losing to a top-10 team isn’t a bad loss, but the way in which the loss occurred makes it a tougher pill to swallow.
Kansas hosted UCF on Tuesday, just a few weeks after beating them in Orlando by 51 points. Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy this time around. The Jayhawks are dealing with a few injuries and patched together yet another starting lineup.
KJ Adams has been out with a shoulder injury, and Dejuan Harris missed his first start in 98 games after he tweaked his ankle at practice on Monday. Rylan Griffen started in place of Harris. This wasn’t the first time Griffen was in the starting lineup this season, but it was the first time we’d seen Griffen start alongside Dickinson, Mayo, Shakeel Moore, and freshman Flory Bidunga. No matter how talented the players are, mixing starting lineups does take away some continuity and will throw a wrench into at least some of the original gameplan.
Both teams started out shooting hot from beyond the arc. Bad defense or great shooting, possibly both, made the start of this game feel like a track meet. There were six times in the first five minutes of the game in which both teams swapped three-pointers on consecutive possessions. Mayo was 3-3 from beyond the arc in the first five minutes of the game, keeping Kansas in the game early as UCF continued to hit a majority of their three-point attempts. A combined 11 three-pointers were made in the first 10 minutes of the game. The first half went back and forth, with UCF taking a 43-41 lead going into halftime.
The second half started out much like the first for UCF. Four of their first five field goals were made three-pointers. UCF led by nine points at the 16:50 mark before Mayo got back into the action and snapped KU out of their funk, hitting two more three-pointers of his own. Much like the first half, the game would go back and forth from there all the way to the end of the game when Kansas was able to make their free throws down the stretch in this one. Mayo finished with 24 points, including six three-pointers, nine rebounds, and five assists. Dickinson added 24 points. Bidunga added his second straight double-double, finishing with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Adams, who had been absent the past few games due to an injury, came off the bench to score 12 points and add five rebounds. David Coit added 12 points, all from three-pointers, as he went 4-8 from beyond the arc. It was a fantastic offensive performance from the Jayhawks.
They’ll need more of that offensive output and a better defense effort for their next game coming up this Saturday at Baylor. The hope is Harris will be back in the starting lineup and Self will have to decide if he wants to keep Bidgunga in the starting lineup or add Adams back into the mix. That will be something to keep an eye on moving forward as the Jayhawks look to solidify their rotation over the next few weeks.
