Kansas will embark on a two-game Utah road trip, taking on the Utah Utes and BYU Cougars. Bill Self met with the media on Thursday to preview the trip and discuss various aspects of where the Jayhawks stand. He talked about getting Kansas’ shooters going, the team’s mindset, and what he sees out of the offense and defense.

Kansas’ shooters need to be less reluctant

The Jayhawks’ three-point rate sits near the bottom of all Division One teams, with 33% of the team’s shots coming from beyond the arc. Kansas hasn’t shot it great from downtown (34.2%, 147th nationally), but Self thinks the shooting issues lie with the shots that his team isn’t taking. He said that when guys are struggling to knock down shots, they can become reluctant.

“A lot of times it’s them being reluctant, and I think that what I would want to eliminate from that is them being reluctant,” Self said. “So you don’t have to shoot more, but you got to shoot it when the situation requires you to shoot it.”

Self said Kansas turned down “between 8 and 10 wide-open looks” in the game against Colorado. The Jayhawks have struggled from three, but Self values shot selection more than whether they are made.

“I’ve always taken the approach that it’s a good or bad shot when it leaves your hand, not if it goes in or not,” Self said. “If this is the shot we want you to shoot and we’re telling you to shoot it, why would you ever hesitate shooting it? If it doesn’t go in, that’s my fault. I’m the one telling you to shoot it.”

Self’s current message to his team

Self has often described the 2024-25 Jayhawks as inconsistent. On Thursday, he once again reiterated that message.

“The thing I would probably say to them as much as anything is, you know, you’ve teased us all, and we’ve all known what your ceiling is. Anything operating under that ceiling is not good enough,” Self said. “It’s an impossible standard to live up to always be at your ceiling. But it is more probable that you get closer if you have the intangibles that allow you to get there in the first place. And we just haven’t been operating with those same tangibles consistently.”

His current motivation is getting to the root of who Kansas is as a team. Self said it’ll take a collective group effort to stay at a high level.

“We have to get to the core root of who we are and what we do, and this is what we believe in. And we have to all be at this level,” Self said. “And hopefully, collectively they want to do that as a group because the best thing about competing is winning. And winning is, you know, obviously something that brings as much joy or more joy to anybody that’s participating. And what allows you to win should be the motivation on what we all try to get to.”

Defense has been limiting factor in Kansas’ losses

Kansas remains in the top five in KenPom’s defensive efficiency. However, when you look at most of the Jayhawks’ losses, defense has been the main factor why they’ve faltered.

The Jayhawks allowed 60 points in the second half to Baylor and gave up a lot of easy looks against Kansas State. On the other hand, Kansas has been at its best this season when it puts together strong defensive performances.

“The problem is in the games in which we haven’t been successful, defense has been really the reason why we haven’t been,” Self said.

Self mentioned a couple of areas that can make the Jayhawks a better defensive team – shrink the floor on ball screens, tighter switches, better one-shot defense, and better on-ball defense in late-clock scenarios.

“I think that will have as much to do with us playing better moving forward as anything,” Self said.

Kansas struggling to finish possessions, but patience has been a positive

Self said the Jayhawks have struggled to finish off great possessions. In years past, Self’s teams have been able to cap off possessions about “80 percent of the time.” However, that changes when things aren’t going well.

“It seems like to me when things don’t go well, that same way to cap it off, we miss a wide-open three or something happens where it doesn’t cap it off the same way,” Self said. “I think we’ve had many more of those this year than what we’ve had in years past, which doesn’t mean our offense sucks, it means we just got to finish the dang possession.”

One positive Self mentioned is Kansas’ poise in late-clock scenarios. He said teams often panic with under 10 seconds on the clock, and it’s easier to defend, but the Jayhawks have remained patient.

“in many situations, I think what we’ve actually got better [at] is not panic in many situations,” Self said. “Okay, it may be late in the clock, but we may get Juan to turn the corner and shoot an uncontested layup with three left, which in many ways isn’t bad offense – in many ways that’s actually patient enough to give the offense a chance to work.”