If there was a sequence in defeat against Houston n ° 3 which encapsulated the Kansas basketball Season, he came with about four minutes to play in the second half.
The Jayhawks, on the road, had recently reduced the cougars advance to 57-54 on a bucket of Hunter Dickinson and recovered the ball after a defensive stop. But on this possession that followed, Dickinson returned the ball and Houston took a quick break and saw Mylik Wilson slam a dunk to do it 59-54.
Then, when Ku recovered the ball, Dickinson was called to an offensive fault on this very next possession, and whatever the momentum, the team had seemed to dissipate.
The game did not end there. The Kansas found itself in possession at the last minute of the match, but the chances were wasted and during the match, the cougars won 65-59 in a Big 12 conference battle.
The Jayhawks (19-11, 10-9 in Big 12) have now lost consecutive matches against very classified teams that they have had their chance to beat. And if the season ended with this last defeat, the one who saw Ku show a certain life in a match, some could have anticipated an eruption, the Ku season would be defined by his missed opportunities.
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“The season is almost over, we have one more match at Allen Fieldhouse,” said Kansas coach Bill Self, The post -phase show of the university network, Asked how they could use this effort in the future.
“I hope that our fans will present themselves to see the elderly who have mean a lot in this place over time – and I’m sure they will do it. But it was a different feeling in the locker room after the match. I thought we had a fairly tight group. I thought the guys were – competitors stronger. Even the guys who did not play, they all thought it was different too. »»
Self, later, added: “No moral victories, but it was going to be one – You went to have to play a fantastic game to win here and we almost succeeded. I didn’t quite.
If there are two things to indicate that the chances of torpedoed kansas during a victory, it was reversals and offensive rebounds. The Jayhawks overturned the ball more than 20 times and granted 18 points of these reversals, while the cougars returned it six times more and only grant eight points of these reversals.
The Jayhawks also granted 17 offensive rebounds and 11 second chance points by the cougars, while Houston only granted five offensive rebounds and six second chance points by Kansas.
The Dickinson double-double at 17 points and 12 rebounds could not overcome these problems, Dickinson himself responsible for seven reversals in a match he would end up. KJ Adams marking 15 points and David Coit adding 14 of his family, the latter out of the bench, could not either. Zeke Mayo and Rylan Griffen each had quiet nights offensively, which hurts since they are supposed to be 3 -point threats and guys who help to space things for Dickinson.
It was not as if a player of the Houston team is responsible for seizing many interceptions or collecting so many rebounds. The cougars won with a team effort that helped them overcome a bad shooting evening from the field. Even if LJ Cryer was in trouble, which prevented him from producing a lot in the second half, Houston also overcome this.
The attention of Kansas is now turning to its regular season final inside Allen Fieldhouse, a match of the senior day for the Jayhawks on Saturday against No. 23 Arizona. This leaves a chance for the Kansas to add to its curriculum vitae before the start of the play of the playoffs. It will be a question of knowing whether the Jayhawks take advantage of it or will not let another opportunity escape.
“They are good,” said Self about Arizona. “They are so athletic and everything. And Houston’s athletics have definitely disturbed us this evening. Our guards could not exceed them, and it made a big difference. But our execution was not horrible. We just returned it too much. But against pressure, you must be able to drive it, and I am sure that the Arizona pressure. Thus, our guards must be able to drive the ball. »»
Jordan Guskey covers the University of Kansas Athletics at Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the sports editor of the National Sports Media Association 2022 for the state of Kansas. Contact it to jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @jordanguskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: The defeat of Kansas Basketball in Houston is another missed opportunity
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