Jayhawks disappointed in effort in 75-67 loss at Texas Tech: ‘We got outworked today.’
.JPG "Kansas coach Bill Self talks to his team on the bench during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Texas Tech, Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, in Lubbock, Texas. (AP Photo/Brad Tollefson)")
It was a shorthanded No. 25-ranked Texas Tech basketball team — one missing its top two scorers — that built a 14-point lead then hung on for a 75-67 victory over No. 6 Kansas on Saturday afternoon at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.
The Red Raiders, who were down to seven players because of COVID issues in Wednesday’s 51-47 loss at Iowa State, used a rotation of eight that forced 17 Jayhawk turnovers, grabbed 33 rebounds to KU’s 24 and outscored KU’s big men in the paint 44-18.
It might be a safe assertion to suggest the Red Raiders (11-3, 1-1) were a big hungrier than the Jayhawks (12-2, 1-1), who had their eight-game winning streak snapped. KU had last suffered a loss the day after Thanksgiving — to Dayton, 74-73 in Florida.
“We got outworked today. They played harder than us,” KU junior forward Jalen Wilson said after scoring 20 points — 10 more than he’s scored in any other game this season. He started in place of senior guard Remy Martin, whose swollen knee has bothered him of late and helped limit him to two points, one assist and one rebound in 12 minutes.
“They brought all the energy, all the effort, punked us in a sense. That’s unacceptable, especially with how Kansas basketball is on the road. We’re always the ones bringing the energy,” Wilson added.
Kansas senior guard Ochai Agbaji led all scorers with 24 points, but he fought foul problems on a day KU coach Bill Self pointed out the senior guard’s struggles defensively.
“He has to become a better defender for us to have a chance to be decent defensively,” Self stated.
Christian Braun was a third Jayhawk in double figures, with 10 points. He added six rebounds and five assists.
KU big men David McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot combined for four points and six boards. In fact, Lightfoot had zero points, zero boards and three fouls in 10 minutes. Dajuan Harris scored two points with three assists, while the bench totaled 11 points.
The stats may have been lacking, but it’s more than that that doomed the Jayhawks on Saturday, Wilson continued.
“Myself included … I’ve been here three years. We have an older team. People outworking us, guys getting more hustle points than us off rebounds ... those things shouldn’t happen,” Wilson said. “We are mature. We’ve been here long enough to know what we need to know, how to approach the game. That all falls back on us.”
Agbaji agreed KU’s effort was most disappointing in the second game of the conference season. KU won its Big 12 opener Tuesday at Oklahoma State, 74-63.
“We weren’t turned up, jumping to the ball, simple stuff like that, not really being the aggressor,” Agbaji said after hitting 7 of 12 shots. He was 6 of 9 on three-pointers and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line. “They were the aggressor with their offense. We were playing a step behind.
“They are a really good team defensively. They pride themselves on the defensive end, making it hard to get looks. They were stepping in and taking charges. Down the stretch they had better composure, getting a good shot every time.”
KU did slice a game-high deficit of 14 points (51-37 at 11:52) to four points (71-67) with just over a minute to play. Texas Tech, which was led by Bryson Williams (22 points, eight rebounds) and Clarence Nadolny (17 points, three boards) did not let the lead dip below those four points. They survived on a day Terrence Shannon and Kevin McCullar were sidelined because of injuries.
“Our only times we ever stopped them was when we went to a crappy zone,” Self said of a 2-3 he implemented in the second half. “They went about six, seven possessions in a row without scoring. After that, they kind of figured that out. I didn’t think we competed very hard,” Self added.
Still KU had its chances.
“We were fortunate it was a four-point game when Juan (Harris) got fouled on the sideline. I’m not saying we would have won the game, but that certainly made a big difference,” Self said of a no-call. “It goes to six, seven, the game was over.”
KU’s coach motioned to an official that he believed Harris was pushed out of bounds when the ball went off the sophomore point guard and out of bounds shortly after an Agbaji bucket had cut the gap to 71-67 at 1:12.
Texas Tech’s Nadolny missed on the ensuing possession, but Kevin Obanor rebounded. There was a held ball with 42 seconds left, then KU fouled Williams, who hit two free throws that made it 73-67. KU committed a turnover, then fouled Adonis Arms, who hit two free throws with 20 seconds left that iced the game.
Self blamed himself more than any one call.
“We were just not very good at all. We obviously didn’t have them (Jayhawks) prepared to go against a team that really really tried hard,” Self said.
KU’s coach was perplexed by the play of the big men on Saturday.
“It’s not their fault we lost by any stretch,” Self said. “I’m not going to put that on any one position or any one guy. We didn’t protect the rim. They score at will inside. We don’t score inside, and we don’t rebound. That’s not a great combination that our big guys could go a combined four points and got a combined eight rebounds. We obviously didn’t do a good job of getting the ball to our bigs. We did well enough that number should have been 12 or 14 (points),” Self noted.
Self said he hoped senior guard Martin’s swollen, sore right knee would be closer to 100% soon. KU is set to take on Iowa State at 7 p.m., Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“I said Remy practiced. He practiced by doing shooting drills. He’s not practiced as far as going up and down,” Self said. “He told us this morning he didn’t know if he could play or not. That was an easy decision to make (to start Wilson).”
KU assistant coach Norm Roberts was the only member of the traveling party not to attend the game. Bobby Pettiford was back after recently testing positive for COVID.
“Norm got a stomach bug. He tested this morning. It’s not COVID,” Self said. “The doctors said stay away.”
Texas Tech was the first ranked team KU played this season.
Prior to Saturday, the Jayhawks last met its first ranked team this late in the season in 1988-89, Roy Williams’ first of 15 seasons at KU. The Jayhawks that year took on No. 5 Oklahoma in game 15.
Prior to this season, the latest the Jayhawks played a ranked team in the 19-year Bill Self era was in game 13 in both 2009-10 (against No. 18 Temple) and 2008-09 (versus No. 14 Tennessee).
KU defeated current No. 10 Michigan State, 87-74, in the season-opening Champions Classic on Nov. 9 in New York. The Spartans, however, were unranked at that time, a snub that drew the ire of Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who believed Michigan State had a team worthy of preseason top-25 accolades in 2021-22.
KU last was forced to open conference play with two consecutive road games in 2000-01, when the Jayhawks won against both Texas Tech and Oklahoma.
The Jayhawks, this season, were supposed to play their first conference game at home against TCU on Jan. 1, but that game was postponed because of COVID issues in the Horned Frogs’ program.
This story was originally published January 8, 2022 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Jayhawks disappointed in effort in 75-67 loss at Texas Tech: ‘We got outworked today.’."
