‘They’ve kind of been the standard’: KU Jayhawks put Big 12 lead on the line vs. Baylor
Defending national champion Baylor has emerged as one of the country’s most dominant men’s basketball teams over the past few seasons.
“The last year and a half they’ve kind of been the standard in our league. We probably were the year before that,” 19th-year Kansas coach Bill Self said after the Jayhawks’ 70-61 victory over Iowa State on Tuesday night at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
“Last year they dominated the league and cut down nets,” Self added of coach Scott Drew’s Bears, who at 13-1 ran away with the 2020-21 Big 12 title over runner-up KU (12-6) in a COVID-plagued conference season that had teams playing varied numbers of games. Baylor, which finished 28-2 overall, rolled through the postseason and eventually routed Gonzaga, 86-70, in the 2021 NCAA title game.
“They have a great program, a great team, are well-coached, are terrific defensively,” Self said.
Self — his Jayhawks took the league title over second-place Baylor by two games in 2019-20 and have split regular-season meetings the last two seasons — will play host to the Bears at 3 p.m. Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse (ESPN).
The No. 8-ranked Bears (19-3, 7-2) trail No. 10 KU (18-3, 7-1) by half a game at the top of the league standings. The Jayhawks could take a two-game lead in the loss column with a victory. Texas Tech (6-3) and TCU (4-3) are next in the standings.
“The thing that made Baylor so great last year,” Self said of a Baylor team that lost to KU, 71-58, in Lawrence but beat the Jayhawks, 77-69, in Waco, Texas, is “they had three guards that could all go get their own. They didn’t have to run anything. They could beat their man, force help and have somebody make a shot. They could rebound the ball and were great defensively.
“This team is similar. In some ways you can make a case they are longer, more athletic. You don’t obviously have (MaCio) Teague, (Jared) Butler and (Davion) Mitchell on the perimeter,” Self added of Bears players who have moved on following the NCAA title campaign, “but have Flagler (Adam, 6-3 guard), Cryer (LJ, 6-1 guard) and Akinjo (James, 6-1 Arizona transfer) who has been great,” Self added.
“You have those three comparable guys. They’ve been a little nicked up, like us not at full strength the whole time. We anticipate them (injured Bears) being there by Saturday.”
Cryer (foot injury) and Flagler (knee) missed the Bears’ 81-77 victory over West Virginia on Monday in Waco, Texas. Akinjo was back for that game after missing two games recently because of a tailbone injury. Freshman Jeremy Sochan, a 6-9 forward, recently missed some time with an ankle injury. He was back for the WVU contest. BU coach Drew said Friday that Cryer and Flagler had been cleared by trainers and it now was a pain tolerance issue. He said their availability would be a gametime decision.
“Scott has a great team. “They are terrific defensively,” Self said of a Drew-led squad that has averaged 78.8 points a game while allowing 61.4 ppg. The Jayhawks counter by averaging 80.0 points a game while giving up 68.2.
“They could get to the Final Four and play for it all again. It will be a great challenge for us, one that I think we should be very excited about and turned up to be a part of,” Self added of Saturday’s game.
Baylor has won nine consecutive games against AP top-10 ranked opponents. The Bears’ last loss to a top-10 squad was 64-61 to No. 3 KU on Feb. 22, 2020 in Waco.
The only other teams to win at least nine straight games versus Top 10 teams: UCLA (12 straight in 1971-73), Cincinnati (12 in 1961-63), North Carolina (10 in 1993-95), North Carolina State (10 in 1974-75) and Villanova (nine in 2016-18). Baylor’s nine-straight top 10 wins have come against No. 5 Illinois (neutral court), No. 9 Kansas (home), No. 6 Texas (road), No. 6 West Virginia (road), No. 10 Arkansas (neutral), No. 6 Houston (neutral), No. 1 Gonzaga (neutral), No. 6 Villanova (home) and No. 8 Iowa State (road).
“We know we have to have people step up,” KU senior power forward David McCormack said after scoring 14 points with 14 rebounds against Iowa State. The Jayhawks won without senior guard Ochai Agbaji (COVID protocol) and super senior guard Remy Martin (knee). Self was expected to give an update on the status of Agbaji at Friday afternoon’s media availability. Self has said Martin figures to be out for an extended period of time with the goal to get his knee back to 100% before he returns to game action.
“Guys stepped up (vs. Iowa State but) there’s still room for improvement. We feel confident we can get the job done. We know improvement needs to be made. We have to have a great mindset going into that (BU) game,” McCormack stated.
“We will have to kick it up a notch,” said sophomore guard Joseph Yesufu, who in Agbaji and Martin’s absence scored seven points with five rebounds, four assists and three steals Tuesday in a season-high 23 minutes. “Baylor is a great team. They won the national championship last year. They will come ready to play at our house. We have to lock in, practice hard. We’ll be ready for Baylor and Texas,” Yesufu added.
The Jayhawks after the Baylor game meet the Longhorns at 8 p.m. Monday in Austin, Texas.
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 9:32 AM with the headline "‘They’ve kind of been the standard’: KU Jayhawks put Big 12 lead on the line vs. Baylor."
