Bill Self addresses Kansas' struggles in loss against Kansas State

The Kansas Jayhawks came up short in overtime on the road, losing to their in-state nemesis, the Kansas State Wildcats, 75-70. Heading into the halftime, Kansas’ head coach Bill Self was critical of his team despite holding a narrow 32-30 advantage.

During the post-game press conference, the Jayhawks head man readdressed his team’s first-half struggles, revealing whether or not they are responsible for their loss to the Wildcats.

“Well, I think that they guarded us pretty good. And I also think that if you really studied how we played, we didn’t do a good job,” said Self.

“I’m not saying that by any stretch, but the few opportunities that we had; Juan (Dejuan Harris Jr.) under throws Hunter [Dickinson] on an uncontested layup; Parker [Braun] throws a high-low pass that he’s wide open on out of bounds; Kevin [McCullar Jr.] missed a layup at the end of the first half. You know, [if] you score four points on those, you wouldn’t be asking that same question. So yeah, we didn’t do a good job at all, but we were still up two at halftime. So it’s not like that was the ball game there in the first half.”

It did take a bit of luck for Kansas to fall on the road, including two big-time offensive rebounds by Kansas State. One of those credited offensive rebounds to the Wildcats was actually an incidental tipping by Dickinson. Still, as Self highlights, Monday night’s loss was not in large part due to the Jayhawks’ first half. And given the opportunity to see Kansas State in their home confines at Allen Fieldhouse, things would likely turn out differently as Kansas currently remains undefeated at home this season.

Self on Kansas first half against K-State

Big 12 basketball is filled with tremendous battles on the hardwood night in and night out. And Monday night’s in-state rivalry showdown between Kansas and Kansas State is no different.

At the half, the Jayhawks have a narrow 32-30 lead over the Wildcats, with both teams putting together valiant efforts in the first half. As the teams head into the locker room, the ESPN team calling the game caught up with Kansas head coach Bill Self to get his take on his team’s first-half performance.

“Well, they’re doing a good job guarding us, playing more athletic than we are right now. We’re lucky to be up two; we didn’t play very well,” said Self.

The game between the two Big 12 rivals has been evenly matched, for the most part, in the first half. Kansas did have the lead in field goal percentage and in free throws made. However, the Jayhawks also committed more turnovers (6-5) and personal fouls (6-4), and the Wildcats, while shooting a lower percentage, made more threes (5-2) in the game to keep it close.