Notebook: Jayhawks defeat Cowboys in their first game since falling out of AP Top 25

By Matt Tait     Feb 8, 2021

Nick Krug
Kansas head coach Bill Self huddles the Jayhawks together during a timeout in the first half on Monday, Feb. 8, 2021 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Monday, for the first time in 232 weeks, the Kansas men’s basketball program was not ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll.

After being included in every AP poll since Feb. 2, 2009 — many times in the top 10 — the Jayhawks fell out of this week’s poll after losing to No. 17 West Virginia over the weekend.

“It’s a great deal,” KU coach Bill Self said of the latest Kansas streak to fall by the wayside. “It’s sad (it came) to an end. But all we can do is hopefully play well enough to start another one. We’ve got a chance to get back in there if we start doing some consecutive things well.”

Kansas (13-7 overall, 7-5 Big 12) still received 18 votes in this week’s poll to check in at No. 33 overall. But the Jayhawks’ NCAA-record streak of 231 consecutive weeks in the AP poll is officially over.

While this week’s poll featured four teams who were unranked last week, it came as a bit of a coincidence that the team the Jayhawks faced on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse occupied KU’s spot in last week’s poll at No. 23.

Kansas topped the 23rd-ranked Cowboys 78-66 at Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night, in the program’s first game as an unranked team in its last 435 outings.

Prior to Monday’s matchup with OSU, Self talked about the significance of this particular KU streak, which was well over twice as long as the next best active streak. Gonzaga, at 89 consecutive weeks, now owns the nation’s longest active AP poll streak.

“It’s a pretty remarkable streak,” Self said of the NCAA-record that surpassed UCLA’s mark of 221 consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25. “It’s a great accomplishment to have good enough players, and so many players have made so many sacrifices over the years. During the good and bad runs, the guys were always able to minimize the negative and maximize the positive. And so that’s what’s kind of frustrating with this. We haven’t been able to do that with this group consistently at all.”

During KU’s poll streak, the Jayhawks won 10 consecutive Big 12 regular season titles, five conference tournament titles, made two trips to the Final Four and finished as the national runners-up once.

Grant-Foster good to go

Kansas junior Tyon Grant-Foster, who missed last Saturday’s loss at West Virginia because of an ankle injury was in uniform on Monday night and warmed up with the team.

Grant-Foster, who entered Monday averaging 3.5 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in 16 appearances this season, did not appear to be favoring his injured ankle in any way during the pregame shoot-around.

Self said Saturday that the junior college transfer was “day to day.”

Grant-Foster checked in at the 7:45 mark of the first half and played three minutes in the first half. He did not play in the second half.

Experience factor

Monday’s matchup featured two teams whose rosters put them on the younger side of the college basketball experience spectrum.

According to KenPom, OSU ranks 320th nationally in experience, with an average of 1.13 years of experience per player. In the Big 12, only K-State (1.02) has a younger roster.

The Cowboys have a combined 24 starts by freshmen in 2020- 21, which ranks 13th nationally.

Kansas, meanwhile, has 1.47 years of experience per player, which ranks 265th nationally per KenPom.com.

Both programs significantly trail the national average of 1.75 seasons of experience per player.

Garrett a Senior CLASS candidate

Kansas guard Marcus Garrett has been named one of 30 men’s basketball candidates for the 2020-21 Senior CLASS Award, KU announced Monday night.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as a Division I senior and have notable achievements in the areas of community, classroom, character and competition.

The Senior CLASS Award — an acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School — celebrates the complete student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

Garrett is a liberal arts and sciences major who is on track to graduate in May. The Dallas native is a three-time member of the Athletic Director’s and Big 12 honor rolls, and last fall he recorded a 3.74 grade-point average. On the court, Garrett was the 2020 Naismith, ESPN and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

The men’s and women’s winners will be announced at this year’s Final Four in Indianapolis.

This and that…

Tuesday’s victory pushed the Jayhawks to 5-5 this season against ranked opponents. All seven of KU’s losses have come to teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25… KU’s win made the Jayhawks 119-60 all-time in the series with Oklahoma State, including a 65-12 mark in games played in Lawrence and a 50-10 record inside Allen Fieldhouse… The Jayhawks are now 74-19 all-time on ESPN’s Big Monday, including 1-1 this season. That mark includes a 33-0 record in Big Monday games at Allen Fieldhouse dating back to the 2003-04 season. KU’s all-time home record on Big Monday is now 44-1.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.