Kansas heads to Rupp Arena on three-game losing streak

The Kansas Jayhawks lost in a nailbiter on the road at Kansas State back on Jan. 17, falling 83-82 in overtime. They followed it up with a head-scratching blowout loss at home against No. 14 TCU, ending a 16-game winning streak at Allen Fieldhouse and dropping the team to 16-3 on the year.

How would the Jayhawks respond? Well, not well. Traveling to Waco, TX to take on No. 17 Baylor, Kansas fell again by a final score of 75-69. It’s a game the team lost despite the Bears shooting just 37.1% from the field and 30% from three. The Jayhawks outshot the opposition overall (46.2%) and knocked down 16 of 16 free-throw attempts, but hit just five of 19 3-pointers (26.3%) and turned the ball over 15 times.

A major concern? Bench help — or even help outside the star talent for that matter. Freshman standout Gradey Dick finished with a team-high 24 points on 8-13 shooting and 2-5 from three to go with four rebounds and a steal, while junior forward Jalen Wilson added 23 points on 10-16 shooting and 3-7 from three to go with five rebounds, two assists and one block. Senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. was the only other player to finish in double figures, adding 14 points on 3-9 shooting and 8-8 from the line, along with 12 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.

Beyond that? A combined eight points between six different players, two being starters. Dick and Wilson knocked down 18-29 shots while the rest of the roster finished 6-23 overall and 0-7 from three. Meanwhile, four different Baylor players scored 11 points or more, led by guard LJ Cryer with 22 points on 8-16 shooting and 5-11 from three. Guard Adam Flagler added 17, while forward Jalen Bridges put up 11 points, nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks and guard Langston Love added 11 points, one rebound and one steal.

With the loss, Kansas falls to 16-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big 12, the three being back-to-back-to-back over the last week alone.

How have the Jayhawks done historically coming off three-game losing streaks — a rarity under Bill Self? They’re 3-0 dating back to 2005.

• 2005: Win vs. No. 4 Oklahoma State
• 2013: Win vs. No. 10 Kansas State
• 2021: Win vs. TCU

Obviously, that means little in the grand scheme of things. This 2022-23 Kansas team is different than the one Self rolled out in 2005 or even 2021, for that matter. Wilson and Dick are stars, averaging a combined 36.3 points and 13.8 rebounds per contest. The former is shooting 43/34/78 splits while the latter has been even better at 45/44/83.

McCullar and K.J. Adams have been solid, as well, averaging 10.4 points apiece to round out double-digit scorers for the Jayhawks, but help elsewhere has been hard to come by on a consistent basis. And really, that’s been part of the team’s problem up to this point. Wilson and Dick have been doing enough to win games against lesser competition, leading the team in scoring in all but three games this season. They have three ranked wins on the year, one being in the Champions Classic against Duke — objectively a bad team at this point. The two others are Indiana (now unranked) and No. 12 Iowa State.

The season sample has shown that while they’re talented at the top of the rotation and have the star power to win games, they’re also thin in the middle and struggle against size and depth. It’s also not a physical team, allowing straight line drives to the basket and easy post scoring opportunities — Kansas doesn’t have a realistic matchup for Oscar Tshiebwe. The wings could be close to a wash, but Kentucky has the clear advantage at the five.

A key position battle? Point guard. Junior Dajuan Harris is the team’s primary ball handler, but has been the weakest link in the lineup as of late. He put up just two points (1-5 FG) and four assists to go with four turnovers in 37 minutes at Baylor. Kentucky will likely use Cason Wallace on one of Kansas’ star wings, but that’s undoubtedly a matchup Kentucky has to take advantage of. Will it be Antonio Reeves or CJ Fredrick sliding over to defend the 6-1 junior? Or could this even be a Sahvir Wheeler game? Win that battle and everything else could fall into place nicely — the Wildcats have the pieces.

One game at a time, obviously. Kentucky has to take care of business at Vanderbilt this evening before we even start thinking about Kansas — the Wildcats can’t afford to look past any team at this point.

But the Jayhawks played first and the results are what they are. Three straight losses before a trip to Lexington to take on a Kentucky team slowly finding its footing is significant.

The first order of business is to beat Vanderbilt. Then attention can be turned toward Saturday.