Finality of loss leaves Kansas locker room in shock (+video)

Sitting in a row in front of their lockers, Kansas guards Devonte Graham, Frank Mason and Wayne Selden did the best they could.

At first, the responses to questions they never thought they’d have to answer came out in fits — too close to the disappointment of a 64-59 loss to Villanova in the Elite Eight to grasp the reality of it all.

Graham leaned back against a surge of reporters crowding around him and talked about senior forward Perry Ellis.

“(Ellis) was speechless,” Graham said. “He was just hurt. He’s strong, though. He will be fine, you could just tell it was hard. We just couldn’t finish.”

Mason stared across the room, a blank look on his face. He was asked what he would remember about this season. He began to answer, then held out a hand, as if presenting the scene playing out around him.

“We had a lot of adversity throughout the year and we fought through it,” Mason said. “(Villanova) made tough shots tonight. Give them credit.”

Selden spoke through red eyes, then tried to put his performance into perspective after he scored 16 points, but went 0 for 6 on three-pointers, including several that rimmed out.

“Coach always tells me I don’t have to impact the game with jumpers, that I can do it in other ways,” Selden said. “I just wish a couple of them would’ve fallen tonight.”

Landen Lucas answered questions in a far corner. Walk-ons Tyler Self and Evan Manning sat next to the exit to the locker room. Svi Mykhailiuk sat, shoes off, facing Hunter Mickelson while freshman forward Carlton Bragg answered questions in front of a dry-erase board.

“You could tell Perry took it hard,” Bragg said. “You could tell he was hurting.”

Ellis and Jamari Traylor, both seniors, finally came back to the locker room after the Jayhawks’ press conference. Right away, the questions came to Ellis on what was the worst game of his season — the Wichita native scored four points on 1-of-5 shooting and came in leading the team at 17.2 points.

“It wasn’t … if I wasn’t scoring, it didn’t matter,” Ellis said. “I just wanted to try to do whatever I could to help the team out. It was frustrating, but in the second half we were up five and I was just excited for the team. Then Villanova fought back, got the lead and we fell short.”

Outside the locker room, athletic director Sheahon Zenger walked down a hallway, away from the court, where two rims stood, naked after being clipped of their nets — one by the Villanova players and one by a group of Villanova students.

The Wildcats were headed to Houston for the Final Four. For the fourth year in a row, the Jayhawks were headed home before the Final Four.

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Finality of loss leaves Kansas locker room in shock (+video)."