Bill Self clearly explains what it means to be 3-0 in renewed series with Missouri

Kansas achieved their fifth straight win on Saturday defeating Missouri 73-64 at home in Allen Fieldhouse. The victory marked the third straight for the Jayhawks in their renewed rivalry against Mizzou, but when Kansas head coach Bill Self was asked about the significance of his team’s dominance in the series, he was brutally honest about the matchup’s recent history.

“I don’t even care about 3-0, I don’t care about what happened last year and the year before,” Self said bluntly. “I care about what’s gonna happen from this point forward with our team and I’m not gonna think about Missouri again unless we have an opportunity to play them in the postseason until next year.”

It’s clear that Self’s focus is forward, not looking back on Saturday’s win or any previous wins over the Tigers from the past few seasons. But the Jayhawk’s most recent nine-point win was actually the closest the matchup has been in the three-year series, dominating Mizzou in a 28-point win last year and a lopsided 37-point win during the 2021-2022 season.

Missouri may be slowly but surely bridging the gap between themselves and Kansas, but Self and the Jayhawks are more concerned with continuing to separate themselves from the pack amongst college basketball’s elite.

“But I am happy that we’ve won, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that we’ve won. But that’s not something that I’m gonna hang my hat on leaving out of here thinking we’re 3-0. You know what, we’re 9-1, we play at Indiana, we gotta get better for Indiana,” Self said.

The Jayhawks reach the 10-game mark of the regular season as the No. 2 ranked team in the nation with just one loss on their resume, also boasting the second-best field percentage in the entire county making 52.7% of their shots from the field so far this season.

Their roster also possesses the nation’s rebounding leader Hunter Dickinson, who’s averaging 19.4 points per game to go along with his 12.6 rebounds. He joined the team this offseason through the transfer portal following three seasons with the Michigan Wolverines, with Kansas’ next matchup versus the Hoosiers signifying his homecoming to the Big Ten stage.

Dickinson had 24 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks the last time he faced Indiana, and will be seeking similar success in different threads when Kansas squares off with the Hoosiers this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET in a game airing on CBS.