Kansas Jayhawks join week of college basketball chaos as No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 fall
No. 1-ranked Purdue and No. 2 Houston both lost conference men’s basketball road games — to unranked teams Nebraska and Iowa State — on Tuesday night.
Those upsets took place 24 hours before the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks dropped a 65-60 decision to unheralded UCF on Wednesday night at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando.
“We try not to pay attention to that really. We heard about it. We were supposed to come out here and handle business tonight,” KU guard Kevin McCullar said after scoring 16 points versus the Knights on 5-of-10 shooting. He was 3-of-5 from 3 on a night KU hit 6 of 18 3s to the Knights’ 7 of 20.
“We dropped one. Now it’s about shaking back to the next one, turning the page and learning from it. That’s what good teams do. We’ve got to do that,” McCullar added.
There obviously will be a big shakeup in the top 25 next week.
KU’s next opponent, No. 9 Oklahoma (13-2, 1-1), lost 80-71 Wednesday night at TCU after beating Iowa State 71-63 on Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma.
TCU bounced back for a big home win Wednesday after falling to Kansas (13-2, 1-1) Saturday in Lawrence.
“No,” McCullar said, asked if anything about UCF (10-4 1-1) surprised him Wednesday. “It’s the Big 12. Top to bottom everybody can compete at a high level. We’ve got the best league in the nation for a reason. Every night you can get beat. You’ve got to turn the page and learn from it.”
McCullar said one bright spot Wednesday was “being in a road environment with this team, learning things. It’s still early in the season. It’s not about how you start in the Big 12, it’s how you finish. We’ve got to turn the page, learn from it to get ready for March.”
Junior forward KJ Adams, who scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds but had four of KU’s 18 turnovers (McCullar had five), agreed lessons can be learned from KU’s squandering a 16-point lead late in the first half.
“It’s one of the best leagues in the world. On a night where we had a good lead, teams can come back and beat you at any time,” Adams said. “Just be careful we don’t make one (loss) two.”
UCF had a loud student section Wednesday. The Knights sold out the 10,000-seat arena for this game.
The fans stormed the court as they did in Lincoln, Nebraska, after NU’s 88-72 victory over the Boilermakers on Tuesday. Iowa State’s fans stayed in their seats after the Cyclones’ 57-53 win over Houston. ISU set the tone early, leading 14-0 in that game.
“I feel the crowd didn’t affect us too much,” Adams said. “We have to make sure we don’t make one (loss) two and get ready for Oklahoma now.”
The Jayhawks learned what it’s like to play without senior big man Hunter Dickinson for long stretches Wednesday. He was limited to 28 minutes because of foul problems and a bruised knee.
“Hunter being in foul trouble hurt us, going inside to the big fella,” McCullar said of Dickinson, who had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting with four rebounds and two turnovers in 28 minutes, his third lowest minutes total in a game as a Jayhawk.
“We’ve got to do a better job helping him not get in foul trouble — us guards guarding the ball a little better so they don’t go into him,” McCullar added. “ It hurt us a little bit. We’ve got to learn how to play without him too. In big games you never know who is going to go down or be in foul trouble. We need a ‘next man up’ mentality.”
KU will next meet Oklahoma at 1 p.m. Saturday, at Allen Fieldhouse.
Here are the Big 12 standings entering the weekend action: Kansas State (2-0), Baylor (2-0), Texas Tech (2-0), KU (1-1), Houston (1-1), OU (1-1), TCU (1-1), Cincinnati (1-1), Texas (1-1), ISU (1-1), UCF (1-1), BYU (0-2), Oklahoma State (0-2), West Virginia (0-2).
This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Kansas Jayhawks join week of college basketball chaos as No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 fall."
