Kansas Jayhawks upset at home by BYU Cougars 76-68
The Kansas Jayhawks suffered their first home loss of the season Tuesday night, blowing a 12-point second-half lead and dropping this season’s penultimate Allen Fieldhouse contest to the BYU Cougars 76-68.
It was an offensive disaster down the stretch for the Jayhawks, who had one of their worst offensive halves of the season after leading by six going into halftime. KU went just 8-of-29 from the floor in the second half and made just 15-of-24 free throw attempts, and it even had a stretch of over seven minutes in the second half without a made field goal.
“You’ve got to make your free throws, you’ve got to be able to score in tight,” Kansas coach Bill Self said, “We weren’t able to do that at all.”
BYU, which came into the game with one of the most efficient offenses in the country according to KenPom, bounced back from a challenging first half to overpower KU in the latter 20 minutes. BYU shot 50% from the floor in the second half and knocked down 46.7% of its three-point attempts, finishing the game 13-of-34 (38.2%) from deep.
“We played pitifully tonight, but when I say we played pitifully that can also give the appearance that I’m taking away something from BYU,” Self said. “BYU was better than us tonight.”
Four Kansas starters scored in double figures Tuesday night, led by 17 points from senior center Hunter Dickinson. He also grabbed 11 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season, but he went just 6-of-15 on free throws and only scored three points in the final 13 minutes of the game.
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t definitely affect me up there,” Dickinson said. “I do think I got in my head a little bit when I started missing.”
Senior guards Dajuan Harris added 12 points and six assists in the loss, while junior forward K.J. Adams scored 11 points and freshman guard Johnny Furphy added another 10.
KU didn’t have senior guard Kevin McCullar available against BYU, his fourth missed game in the last five Kansas outings due to a bone bruise in his knee.
“We obviously miss him, but we’ve got to be able to perform without him,” Furphy said.
Jaxson Robinson and Dallin Hall of BYU tied for the game high with 18 points apiece.
“Coming on the road, especially here, you know a lot of people don’t beat them here so it’s special for us,” Hall said.
With the loss, the seventh-ranked Jayhawks are now 9-6 in Big 12 play, tied for their most losses in a conference season in the Self era with three games to go. Those include a pair of road games at the Baylor Bears and Houston Cougars, segmented by senior night against the Kansas State Wildcats.
“This happens,” Self said. “And right now, our team is such where we really have to work our butts off and have some good things happen to win while playing shorthanded right now.”
Kansas will face Baylor on Saturday at noon.
For more on the Kansas Jayhawks’ 76-68 loss to the BYU Cougars, check out 580 Sports Talk Wednesday from 2-6 p.m. on 580 WIBW.
