Preseason No. 1 Kansas Blows Another Lead In Baylor Loss

At halftime Saturday, Kansas looked like the team many envisioned when it was selected first in the Associated Press preseason poll. The Jayhawks led Baylor by 19 points and were seemingly on their way to an easy road victory. But the Bears regrouped and pulled off a stunning 81-70 upset over KU even though they played without starting guard Jeremy Roach and lost star freshman VJ Edgecombe to an injury five minutes into the second half. The loss continued the Jayhawks’ maddening season that began with such high expectations.

“I really didn’t say much,” Kansas coach Bill Self told reporters on what he told his team after the loss. “I don’t think in situations like that there’s really a lot to be said, to be honest with you. Any type of pick ‘em up talk isn’t going to be heard, and there’s no reason to get on anybody, so I didn’t really say much.”

Who could blame Self, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer with 825 career victories? The Jayhawks were up by as many as 21 points, making it the biggest blown lead in program history, which dates to the 1898-99 season. A week earlier, KU guard Dajuan Harris Jr. went to the free throw line with Jayhawks leading Houston by six points with 18 seconds remaining in overtime. But Harris Jr. missed both free throws, Houston made two 3-pointers to send the game to double overtime and the Cougars won, 92-86, completing an improbable comeback.

Kansas (15-6 overall and 6-4 in the Big 12 Conference) is now in a three-way tie for fifth in the conference. The Jayhawks are in no danger of missing the NCAA tournament, but they are sure to fall a few spots from their No. 11 ranking when the AP poll is released Monday afternoon.

“I honestly believe the oranges that we ate at halftime that Baylor provided was probably the reason why we sucked in the second half,” Self said.

Kidding aside, Self is no doubt frustrated with KU’s confounding performances, which are reminiscent of a year ago.

The Jayhawks entered last season No. 1 in the AP poll and won 12 of their first 13 games. But they were inconsistent the rest of the season and finished 10-8 in the Big 12, tying for fifth. It was their worst conference finish since placing fifth in the 1999-2000 season.

KU lost by 20 points to Cincinnati in its Big 12 tournament opener and by 21 points to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Kevin McCullar Jr., the Jayhawks’ leading scorer, missed both of those games with an injury.

This season, the Jayhawks won their first seven games, including victories over North Carolina, Michigan State and Duke. They then lost consecutive road games at Creighton by 13 points and at Missouri by nine points in mid-December. Their other losses were by one point to West Virginia on Dec. 31 and by 17 points at Iowa State on Jan. 15, as well as the collapses against Houston and Baylor.

Despite KU’s travails this season, they have a star in 7-foot-1 center Hunter Dickinson, who is averaging 16.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game and is fourth in analyst Ken Pomeroy’s national Player of the Year standings. They also have two other returning starters in Harris Jr. (9.8 points and 5.9 assists per game) and forward KJ Adams Jr. (8.3 points and 4.7 rebounds per game) and a standout transfer in guard Zeke Mayo, who grew up in the same town as KU and is averaging 15 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in his first season after spending three years at South Dakota State.

The Jayhawks have additional talented players such as freshman forward Flory Bidunga and transfer guards Rylan Griffen (Alabama), AJ Storr (Wisconsin), Shakeel Moore (Mississippi State) and David Coit (Northern Illinois), but they each play less than 20 minutes per game and have been inconsistent.

Still, the Jayhawks are No. 10 in KenPom’s ratings and the NCAA’s NET rankings, which the NCAA tournament’s selection committee uses in evaluating teams. Houston (No. 3 in both rankings), Iowa State (No. 7 in both rankings) and Texas Tech (No. 8 in the NET and 9 in KenPom) are the Big 12 teams ahead of KU. League foe Arizona is No. 11 in the NET and No. 12 in KenPom.

The Jayhawks return to action on Monday when they host Iowa State, which itself is coming off a surprising 19-point home loss against Kansas State. Asked if he was happy to have another game Monday, Self didn’t hesitate.

“No,” he said. “We’re going to postpone it until Tuesday. It’s a lot easier to play on a short break if you have momentum going into it and energy and all that stuff. We’re going to have to regroup obviously. By Monday, we’ll be happy we’re playing, but certainly that’s a tougher test for us today than it would be for Baylor if they were playing Monday.”

KU has other difficult games coming up, too, including finishing the regular season by hosting Texas Tech on March 1, playing at Houston on March 3 and hosting Arizona on March 8.

KenPom projects KU to win each of its remaining 10 games except at Houston, although four of those victories are expected to be decided by four points or fewer. The Jayhawks still have six weeks until the NCAA tournament field is announced and plenty of time to regroup from Saturday’s loss. They have one of the top college coaches of all-time in Self, as well. But the ways things are going now, advancing deep in the NCAAs seems like a tall task even for such a talented team.