KU suffers 84-59 defeat to Texas. It ties for worst home loss in Jayhawks’ history
Bill Self didn’t throw a temper tantrum while addressing his shell-shocked Kansas basketball players after Saturday’s historic 84-59 loss to No. 8-ranked Texas in Allen Fieldhouse.
“We already got our (butt) kicked once today. We didn’t have to have it kicked again,” Self, KU’s 18th-year coach, said after the 25-point loss, which tied for KU’s worst setback in the history of the tradition-rich building that opened in 1955.
Missouri also beat the Jayhawks by 25 points on Feb. 1, 1989.
“We’ve got to decide if we want to be a team that makes other people play bad,” Self said. “That’s what we take the most pride in. It certainly didn’t look like that today.”
His No. 3-ranked Jayhawks (8-2, 2-1), who hit 16 threes in a 79-65 win over West Virginia on Dec. 22, also at Allen, shot 3-of-23 beyond the arc to the Longhorns’ 12-of-26.
Texas, led by Jericho Sims’ 12, out-rebounded the Jayhawks 46-37. Five Longhorns scored in double figures as UT improved to 8-1 and 2-0 in the league.
“I’d just say this is very embarrassing,” KU freshman wing Jalen Wilson said after scoring 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds. “They are a very good team. Today we didn’t show what we are capable of, how we actually play.
”We let down the fans. We only get so many (games) in here. It’s just kind of disappointing the way we came out. We can do so much more than that.”
KU, which trailed 10-2 early and 37-29 at halftime, faded fast after cutting UT’s lead to four points early in the second half. The slow start made some wonder if KU’s 11-day layoff since the West Virginia win might have been a factor.
“I wouldn’t make any excuses for that,” KU wing Ochai Agbaji said after scoring 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting. He missed five shots and didn’t score the second half.
“They had the same opportunities, the same time off (UT actually had 13 days between games). We just weren’t ready to play today, it’s plain and simple,” Agbaji said.
Just 2,500 fans were allowed to attend the game amid the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning there wasn’t a lot of electricity in the building for KU.
“This is one time … I told our guys if we had 18,000 packed in Allen today, I don’t think it would have made any difference in the outcome of the game,” Self said. “You do get spoiled when there’s energy — when you are playing poorly the crowd kind of picks you up.
“This is a year,” Self added, “the best team is going to win regardless of what court you play on. There’s no doubt who the best team was today.”
The Jayhawks, who hit 30.8% of their shots to Texas’ 49.2%, received just eight points (all from the free-throw line) and five boards in 14 minutes from 5-man David McCormack.
McCormack had two points and three rebounds in the first half while missing four shots and did not start the second half. Mitch Lightfoot, who had two first-half blocks, was given the nod. He finished with no points or rebounds and those two blocks in 14 minutes.
“I just wanted some energy,” Self said. “Mitch obviously has more energy than about anybody on the team. I didn’t think David really produced at all the first half. I wanted to give Mitch a chance. He certainly deserves a chance. That’s the reason we wanted to do that.”
It looked as if the move might spark KU to a win. But after immediately cutting the eight-point halftime deficit to four, 41-37, KU was burned by threes from Andrew Jones (14 points, seven rebounds), Matt Coleman (13 points, six rebounds, six assists) and Courtney Ramey (18 points, four rebounds), and it was 50-37 with 15:41 left.
“It goes from ‘OK we got this, now we’re going to play,’ to a lot of blank stares after that (three-point barrage),” Self said. “We’ve got to become much tougher mentally, grind through things. We didn’t do that. Give them credit. They weren’t going to allow us to do that.”
The Jayhawks, who opened their Big 12 campaign with wins over No. 14 Texas Tech and No. 7 West Virginia, travel to unranked TCU Tuesday (9 p.m. at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth).
“We are trying to keep each other positive. We have each others’ backs,” Agbaji said. “This is something we need to go through, something I feel we needed to go through. We’re going to stay together and stay positive and look forward to our game Tuesday.”
KU was without Bryce Thompson (back injury) on Saturday and will not have him available on Tuesday, Self said.
“We don’t think it will be a three to four week thing. We think it could be a couple (weeks),” Self said, noting Thompson had a “hard fall” at practice.
Point guard Marcus Garrett, who had six points, four assists and three steals in 31 minutes Saturday, took a shot to the head from Sims late in the game and did not return.
“He got his bell rung pretty good. I’m sure he’ll be out tomorrow. I don’t know his status moving forward,” Self said of Garrett, who was able to walk off the court without assistance.
Notable ...
Before Saturday, KU’s worst home loss in the 18-year Self era was 12 points to Baylor last season and 12 points to Texas Tech in January 2018. … Texas, which had dropped its last nine games at Allen, is now 2-16 in the facility. Shaka Smart is 2-10 versus KU. ... Texas snapped KU’s 13-game home-court win streak. The Jayhawks had won 17 regular-season league games in a row.
This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 1:08 PM with the headline "KU suffers 84-59 defeat to Texas. It ties for worst home loss in Jayhawks’ history."
