Was it a must win? Jayhawks offer opinions after Monday’s 88-80 victory over Texas
.JPG "Kansas players celebrate after a basket during the first half of Monday’s game against Texas on Feb. 6, 2023, at Allen Fieldhouse.")
After losing four of its last five league games, Kansas’ No. 9-ranked men’s basketball team entered Monday’s Big Monday contest against No. 5 Texas two games behind the Longhorns and one in back of Iowa State in the Big 12 standings.
In other words, a loss to first-place Texas in Game 11 of the conference season might have buried KU for good in the conference race still with seven contests left to play.
“Really, this was a must win. Everybody knew it was a must win,” KU point guard Dajuan Harris said after scoring 17 points on 8-of-16 shooting (his most shot attempts in a game as a Jayhawk) in Monday’s 88-80 win at Allen Fieldhouse.
Harris added a career-high six rebounds, five assists and career-high-tying four steals while playing 34 minutes in the Jayhawks’ home win.
“We played in our arena too,” Harris added of the importance of the 8 p.m. game. “We wanted to come out, enjoy the crowd and give them something to get hyped about. We gave ‘em a show.”
The Jayhawks, who improved to 19-5 overall and 7-4 in the league (Texas is 8-3 and Iowa State is 7-3, while Kansas State, Baylor and TCU are 6-4), defeated Texas on a night the Big 12’s leading scorer Jalen Wilson finished with two points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Gradey Dick scored 21 points, Kevin McCullar added 16 (10-of-13 from the line), Joseph Yesufu scored 14 off the bench and KJ Adams posted 10 points to make up for the off-scoring night from Wilson.
It seems whatever KU needed to do with its eight available scholarship players (the rest of the roster is injured) it was willing to do Monday night to stay in the league race.
“We knew we had to come in here and get a win,” said Dick, who hit 7 of 11 shots and was 2-of-3 from three and 5-of-6 from the line.
KU was coming off a 15-point loss to Iowa State on Saturday in Ames.
“We know their record and ours, so it was vital we came out here with that energy and kept it through the whole game,” Dick added. “We had to match (the energy) with them, especially with (only) three dudes (available) off the bench. We had to come out with energy.”
Junior reserve combo guard Yesufu, who had scored no more than eight points in a league game this season (he had 14 points versus Tennessee and Texas Southern) hit 5-of-9 shots and was 4-of-4 from the line. He had a crowd pleasing dunk late.
“It’s what I used to be,” Yesufu said of his performance resembling the player he was at Drake, prior to his transfer to KU. “I am trying to be better than I was at Drake. I have to show it each and every night.”
KU coach Bill Self said Yesufu “reminded me of the NCAA Tournament two years ago (for Drake). He was so aggressive and so good. He looked so athletic. I’m really happy for him.”
The Jayhawks’ other two available scholarship players off the bench, Ernest Udeh and MJ Rice, combined for 24 minutes. Udeh had six points and two rebounds in nine minutes and Rice added two points and three rebounds in 15 minutes.
“Ernest played well. MJ had a presence out there. He belongs,” Self said of the seldom-used freshman who has battled both injuries and illness this season.
Self admitted he would not have thought KU would have had much of a chance if he’d known Wilson would score just two points in 27 minutes.
“Anything’s possible, but I’d say probably not,” Self said. “Jalen gets two and we make two threes (in 10 tries; Texas was 6-of-19 from three) and we still get 88.”
Of the question of the day, whether this was a “must-win,” Self said: “It was as close to a must-win as you can have this early in the season to win the league. You go down three games with seven left, you’d have had to win out probably and get a lot of help from others.”
KU will next meet Oklahoma at noon Saturday in Norman, Okla.
“Now we still have as hard a schedule as anybody,” Self said, “but at least we can control our own destiny. So much ball is left to be played.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2023 at 12:52 AM with the headline "Was it a must win? Jayhawks offer opinions after Monday’s 88-80 victory over Texas."
