Bill Self does not see Iowa State game as a must-win yet

With just four games being done in conference play in the Big 12, Bill Self doesn’t consider the Top-10 matchup on Wednesday between No. 2 Iowa State and No. 9 Kansas as a must-win for the Jayhawks.

Self said so during his press conference to start this week. He said there was no reason for them to put that much emphasis on it, especially considering the circumstances tomorrow night in Ames, with 15 games left in the league afterward.

“Yes. It’s way too early,” said Self. “Whenever you go on the road and you’ve got to have a must-win at the No. 2 ranked team in the country? That puts a little too much pressure on the situation. We should go up there and play free and play easy.”

Self says the reality is he wishes everyone in the Big 12 would lose to best help the Jayhawks. However, that won’t be the case. They’ll have to continue to play better after an opening loss in conference in order to stay on schedule in the standings.

“I’m not lying. I wish that Iowa State would’ve lost. I wish Texas (Tech) would’ve lost. I wish Arizona would’ve lost. Matter of fact, I wish there was, like, 15 other teams in our league that lost on Saturday,” said Self. “But that’s not how it works.

“So, you know, I don’t consider us being in the race at this moment. I don’t consider us being out of it. I think we put ourself in a hard position. Because, if you looked at the conference race? You guys know who we play. Our schedule is different from most. So, you know, we’re playing the two best teams in our league twice each. So those are hard games.”

Kansas, at 12-3 and 3-1 in the conference, is behind three undefeated teams in the league and tied with two others with the same record. Iowa State and Houston, who the Jayhawks will play twice apiece, as well as Arizona are all at 4-0 while West Virginia, who beat KU by one in Allen Fieldhouse, and Baylor are with them at 3-1.

Still, there’s a lot of season left to go over the next two months. That’s why Self is more focused on how Kansas is playing than what this early result could be tomorrow against the Cyclones.

“The biggest thing is, hey, let’s just try to get better each and every day,” said Self. “We’ve got a great opportunity on Wednesday.”