No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks start week of three games with 74-64 loss at TCU Horned Frogs
.JPG "TCU guard Damion Baugh, left, defends against a shot by Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji (30) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Fort Worth, Texas, Tuesday, March 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)")
No. 6-ranked Kansas, which had hoped to go 3-0 this final week of the Big 12 regular season and claim an outright Big 12 championship, instead has started the pivotal stretch with a loss.
In fact, KU’s 74-64 setback Tuesday night at TCU was a rather painful defeat. It followed Saturday’s 80-70 setback at Baylor, giving the Jayhawks back-to-back double-digit losses for the first time since the 2003-04 season, Bill Self’s first season at KU.
That’s when Oklahoma State stopped KU, 80-60, and Nebraska slugged the Jayhawks, 74-55, in a pair of KU road games.
“Tonight was more bothersome to me (than the Baylor game), because we had everything to play for, but they did, too,” KU coach Self said after Tuesday’s defeat.
Instead of winning three games this week (KU plays TCU at home Thursday and Texas Saturday) and being undisputed league champs, the Jayhawks (23-6, 12-4) now need to finish 2-0 to stake a claim for at least a piece of the title. TCU (19-9, 8-8), meanwhile solidified its resume for an NCAA Tournament berth.
“It looks to me they were the quicker, more aggressive team tonight hands down, and we both had things to play for. That was probably what was most disappointing,” Self said. “I can handle getting beat. We are not talented enough we’re going to run the table. I can handle that. I struggle when you (have to) sub after 30 seconds because he didn’t go after the ball. I find that pretty inexcusable. Hopefully that will not happen again. Hopefully we’ll learn a valuable lesson,” Self added.
Self subbed out senior forward David McCormack (11 points, eight rebounds) in the first minute of the game after TCU, which out-rebounded KU 47-35, grabbed three quick boards.
“I really thought Ochai pressed tonight,” Self said of senior guard Ochai Agbaji, who scored 13 points on 4-of-17 shooting. “He probably had his worst game he’s had this year, but he played the way we’re supposed to play. I didn’t think very many others did tonight. We were collectively not a very good unit tonight,” Self added. “This was a game everybody played a role.”
Mike Miles scored 19 points and Emanuel Miller and Damion Baugh added 11 apiece as the Horned Frogs, who have hovered at or near the .500 mark in conference play, won back-to-back games against top-25 teams for the first time in school history.
TCU tripped then-No. 9 Texas Tech, 69-66, on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I mean we’ve got to rebound the ball better than what we played today. I think we will play better than we did today,” Self said of KU’s 7 p.m. rematch against TCU on Thursday and 3 p.m. Senior Day battle versus Texas on Saturday. As stated before, a pair of wins are needed to claim at least a share of the title. Baylor enters Saturday’s finale against Iowa State with a record of 13-4; Texas Tech, which plays Oklahoma State is 12-5.
“We’ve got to do something to make them (Frogs) play bad. We let them play to their strengths. We are not talented enough or good enough to let a team steal points on the glass. It was more than that. They kept balls alive.”
KU sophomore forward Jalen Wilson scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
“You’ve got to hit somebody every single play, be the aggressor,” Wilson said. “We have to come out (Thursday) and be more aggressive. We knew they were a good rebounding team. We knew if we took that away we’d win the game. This shows us exactly what we need to do Thursday.”
Wilson said the Jayhawks will be fired up seeking two wins and the league crown.
“We’ve got to win our last two games. We’ve come too far to let somebody else take it away,” Wilson said.
McCormack noted: “They (Frogs) came out of the gate intense. We came out slow. We should have done a better job on the boards. We know what we need to do, how to compete.”
McCormack said the Jayhawks were upbeat in the locker room despite having lost two in a row heading into Thursday’s TCU rematch.
“We encouraged each other as always. Our locker-room talk is always positive,” McCormack said. “We’ll show a lot of heart competing and defending the fieldhouse.”
Self figures the Jayhawks must play a lot better if they as some pundits say, are a No. 1 seed for the 2022 NCAAs.
“I can’t believe we’re on line for a 1-seed after that tonight,” Self said of a game in which KU hit 37.3% of its shots to TCU’s 41.8%. KU was 8 of 19 from three; TCU 3 of 15. “I guess we control our own destiny if you are going to win out.”
Wilson scored nine points on 4-of-7 shooting and had five rebounds the first half, while Christian Braun (10 points, five boards total) had seven points and Agbaji six on 2-of-8 shooting as KU led, 35-34, at halftime.
Miles had nine points and three assists and Francisco Farabello five for the Horned Frogs in the half. Nine TCU players scored in the half. Six Jayhawks scored.
TCU opened a five-point lead (45-41) with 14 minutes, 53 seconds to play following a jumper by Micah Peavy on the fast break and free throw by Miles. It was 50-43 TCU after a bucket by Miles at 13:20.
KU cut the gap to 50-47 thanks to a bucket by Agbaji and a goaltending call on a shot by Joseph Yesufu. However TCU made it 54-47 at 10:30 on a bucket by Baugh following an offensive rebound and bucket by Peavy.
A bucket by KU’s Remy Martin cut the gap to 54-49 at 8:58. At that point, TCU rattled off seven straight points to lead 61-49 at 7:10. And at that point, TCU had outrebounded KU 39-27.
It was 63-53 at the final TV timeout (3:51).
Agbaji hit a three to cut the gap to 63-56. However Miles hit a bucket and made it 65-56 at 2:00. Jalen Coleman-Lands hit a three, but TCU responded with a dunk and it was 67-59 at 1:26. Braun missed a shot at 1:12. Then Braun hit a three at 55 seconds left to cut the gap to 67-62.
It was 68-63 when Agbaji hit two free throws with 47 seconds left to make it 68-64 TCU.
Baugh went to the line and hit two free throws to make it 70-64 with 43 seconds left. The fans stormed the court after the final horn sounded in the 74-64 TCU win.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 9:25 PM with the headline "No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks start week of three games with 74-64 loss at TCU Horned Frogs."
