Why one KU basketball player says Jayhawks took games at Creighton, Mizzou ‘for granted’
Kansas men’s basketball entered last week’s pair of games with a 7-0 record, No. 1 national ranking and resume that included early-season victories over traditional powerhouses Duke, North Carolina and Michigan State.
After a brutal five-day stretch that included losses to unranked Creighton and Missouri, the Jayhawks’ squad on Monday began a five-day break in the schedule at 7-2 overall and as the No. 10 team in the land.
“This was going to be a hard week regardless. It went as poorly as we could have ever thought it would go with our play, but the two teams we played on those particular days were really good basketball teams,” KU coach Bill Self told ex-Jayhawk guard Greg Gurley in a postgame radio interview after the Jayhawks’ 76-67 loss to rival Missouri on Sunday at Mizzou Arena.
KU on Wednesday fell at Creighton 76-63.
“The message (entering this week) is, ‘We’ve got some issues,’” Self stated. “I mean, we don’t guard and when our main guys are good we’re pretty good, but it’s too much pressure on non-scorers that are your main guys to have average nights.
“How do you make up for the difference in average nights?” Self continued. “I mean, Juan (Harris) and KJ (Adams) aren’t going to get you 30 points every night. So who else is going to make it up? You know, we’ve got to come up with some stuff, but obviously the pieces don’t quite fit yet. I’m hoping and believing that we’re going to get there soon, but it needs to be sooner rather than later.”
Senior guard Diggy Coit, who started Sunday’s game, hit four 3s and scored 14 points on a day starters Hunter Dickinson, Dajuan Harris and KJ Adams scored 19, 13 and 11 points on combined 16-of-36 shooting. Starter Zeke Mayo had four points and four turnovers in 26 minutes.
“He did some good things. He did some really bad things early, too. I mean, we all did,” Self said, when asked specifically about Coit. “Our starters … we couldn’t handle the pressure. I mean, you stop and think about it. The four guys that we’re really counting on, they didn’t handle the pressure at all. ‘Hunt’ (Dickinson) has seven turnovers. KJ didn’t have a good start at all. And Juan didn’t have a good start and Diggy didn’t have a good start (as MU stormed to an 18-point first-half lead).
“We can’t put that on the bench. Those were the guys that we’re counting on to be poised and handle it and everything, but Diggy did make some shots. He at least played with some energy I thought and did some good things, but he’s too little (5-foot-11) to try to make some of the plays that he tried to make there and just wasted a couple possessions.”
Self noted that Mizzou, a team led by Tamar Bates (29 points) and Mark Mitchell (17 points), had too many uncontested buckets.
“We didn’t guard the ball at all the first half, and so you don’t guard it and they get anywhere they want,” Self said. “They didn’t beat us from beyond the arc (KU went 8-of-23 from 3; MU 4-of-13). They beat us by just driving the ball and just playing one-on-one. Of course we played small and we played unathletic for the vast majority of that game. And then at the end we made a good run, but it was just too late.
Coit, a transfer from Northern Illinois, was asked why KU had a rough week on the road. Creighton jumped out to leads of 23-11, 35-22 and 41-28, ultimately claiming the double-digit victory.
Mizzou led by as many as 24 on Sunday.
“I don’t think it’s uncomfortable on the road. I just think that we took it for granted. We took Creighton for granted. We took Mizzou for granted, and I think they made us pay for that,” Coit said. “And credit to both of those teams, both of those programs. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. I think I think we didn’t come ready to play on both occasions. I think that. But this has kind of been a problem all year: the way we start games. ...
“I understand we’re not going to make every shot. But I think these two road games, we kind of saw that this is a real problem. How we start games and how we’ve been taking people for granted is a real problem that we have.”
After a week of practice, KU will meet North Carolina State at 2:15 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“What I want to see is just intensity, just grit,” Coit said of this week’s practices. “I think that sometimes you could be too talented for your own good. You know, you’ve got too many pieces and you take that for granted.
“So I want us to get back to the foundation of, obviously, why we all came here, what Kansas is about. It’s not about skill. It’s about having heart and playing your heart out every time, regardless of the outcome.”
Noted senior AJ Storr: “I think it starts in practice really. We’ve got to have a short term memory. I feel like that’s important in the game of basketball. Let the past be the past, stay in the present.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2024 at 9:47 AM with the headline "Why one KU basketball player says Jayhawks took games at Creighton, Mizzou ‘for granted’."
