Bill Self strikes positive tone after 3rd straight KU loss, but it comes with a warning
.JPG "Kansas head coach Bill Self waves to fans after his team lost to Baylor in a game on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, in Waco, Texas.")
The Kansas Jayhawks, who were ranked No. 2 in the country and trending upward two weeks ago, suddenly have dropped three consecutive games heading into a late-January road contest against Kentucky and reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe.
“No one is going to feel sorry for us losing three in a row. We’re Kansas. That’s all they want us to do,” KU forward Jalen Wilson said after scoring 23 points and grabbing five rebounds in the No. 9-ranked Jayhawks’ 75-69 loss to No. 17 Baylor on Monday night at Ferrell Center.
“We’ve got to find a way to bounce back, come together more,” Wilson added after a game in which the Jayhawks trailed by 13 points early, took a one-point lead with 15:24 left (on a Wilson three), then again trailed by nine with 10 minutes left.
KU, which travels to Kentucky for a 7 p.m. Central Big 12/SEC Challenge tipoff Saturday following losses to Baylor and Kansas State on the road and TCU at home, will in Wilson’s words simply try to “rest and regroup a little bit, be aware of what we need to do a little better.”
KU coach Bill Self is not about to push the panic button during this rare three-game losing streak.
No Self team has dropped four games in a row in his 20 seasons at KU. It is believed KU’s last four-game losing streak was during the 1988-89 season.
For instance, Self on Monday night said calmly that in a loss that dropped KU’s record to 5-3 in the league and 16-4 overall: “I didn’t think we played bad. I just don’t think we rebounded very well.”
KU was outrebounded 35-33. Baylor had 17 offensive boards to KU’s eight.
The Jayhawks, who were led by Gradey Dick’s 24 points and Kevin McCullar’s 12 rebounds, “played better (than Saturday’s 23-point loss to TCU at home),” Self said. “We had a breath and the sun came up today so naturally it was better than Saturday. I actually thought we didn’t play poorly. I thought we played poorly (as far as) scouting report and defensively early. After that when the game settled down we were much better.”
The Jayhawks, who were victimized by guard LJ Cryer’s 19 points the first half (he had three points the final half), trailed 41-34 at halftime to a BU team that has won five league games in a row after an 0-3 start. Baylor is 15-5 overall.
“Guys, there is a time to be reactive in a negative way if your team is not doing well. This is not one of (those) times,” Self said in the interview room, asked about the “big picture” heading into the Kentucky game.
“I mean we got beat by a team that is projected to win the league tonight that is really good. They went through the same crap we are going through right now (opening 0-3),” Self said of Baylor. “We got beat by a team that is fifth in the country (Kansas State) at their place by one and we got beat at home (by a TCU team) that could have beat anybody in the country Saturday. So our league is that good.
Added Self: “It’s going to be a grind. Our team isn’t talented enough that we can be disappointed when teams of equal talent play better than us and get frustrated with it. We don’t have as much margin for error as we’ve had in years past. That is OK, but if you don’t have quite as much margin for error and the other teams in the league are a lot better, it makes it tough.”
He continued his discussion of the big picture.
“The difference in our league than in the past, there’s just not games you can look to and say, ‘We can get well here,’” Self said. “There’s none of those games. I’ll be honest with you. I’ve got to take a different approach and understand it’s a marathon. It’s not an immediate reaction. You can react immediately in this league and you’ll have nine other teams go through the exact same thing some point in time during the season.”
Self did acknowledge that point guard Dajuan Harris has struggled of late. He had two points on 1-of-5 shooting with four assists to four turnovers in 37 minutes. He was 0-for-1 from three.
KU hit 5 of 19 threes to Baylor’s 9 of 30. BU hit 20 of 25 free throws while KU went 16-of-16 from the line.
“He hasn’t been as good. He knows it. We talked about it after the game,” Self said of Harris. “I think people are keeping him out of the lane. I don’t think he’s getting near as many opportunities to create for others. (Then) in the second half he was probably fatigued. He doesn’t usually turn it over. He had a couple bad turnovers. That’s probably it as much as anything.”
If there was a bright spot Monday, Wilson said it was KU showing “how much we could fight back and get up by one.”
Senior guard McCullar, who had 14 points to go with 12 rebounds and four assists, said it’s time to “get back to work, have (a) short memory, learn from this, have a great week of preparation and come out and compete.”
That would be Saturday at unranked Kentucky, which is 13-6 overall and 4-3 in the SEC and anchored by the 6-9, 260-pound Tshiebwe.
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 12:28 AM with the headline "Bill Self strikes positive tone after 3rd straight KU loss, but it comes with a warning."
