Preview: KU men’s basketball visits unforgiving road environment to take on OSU

By Henry Greenstein     Jan 15, 2024

article image AP Photo/Colin E. Braley
Kansas head coach Bill Self reacts during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Oklahoma, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Lawrence.

Kansas’ next foe may not reside in the upper echelon of the Big 12 Conference — at least, three games in, it’s the only team without a league win — but that doesn’t mean the Jayhawks will breeze past Oklahoma State.

“All road games are hard, regardless of records or anything like that,” KU coach Bill Self said.

This year’s Jayhawks learned that the hard way when they gave UCF its first-ever Big 12 win — and only one so far — by blowing a 16-point lead in Orlando last Wednesday.

After playing a complete game to beat Oklahoma 78-66 Saturday, they are now charged with, as junior KJ Adams put it postgame, “just making sure we don’t drop another one, of course, going over there (to Stillwater) when they have a good home environment.”

OSU has historically done rather well defending Gallagher-Iba Arena against KU. The Jayhawks have one of their lowest overall road win percentages versus any longtime conference foe against the Cowboys (53%), and Self is just 9-8 in Stillwater while at KU, though he has won five of the last six matchups there.

OSU will be especially relieved to return home after consecutive road games, most recently one in Ames, Iowa, that saw the Cowboys struggle to make it to Hilton Coliseum at all due to snowy weather and mechanical issues. They got to Ames just a few hours before the delayed 7:15 p.m. tipoff and then got locked down 66-42 by the host Cyclones.

The Cowboys turned the ball over 20 times in total, shot 32% from the field and 36% at the line, and scored just 16 points in the second half. They had done better offensively a game earlier at Texas Tech, but in that performance they also allowed the Red Raiders to shoot 59% as all five Tech starters reached double figures.

They also lost at home to Abilene Christian and by two points to each of the following teams: Notre Dame, St. Bonaventure and Southern Illinois.

On the other hand, OSU raised its level of play significantly when a high-ranked Baylor team came to town, would have won in regulation if not for a four-point play by RayJ Dennis with 1:37 to go and then lost after an overtime period that essentially became a free-throw contest.

That is precisely the sort of effort of which KU should be wary Tuesday. The Cowboys will test the Jayhawks’ defense with the likes of guards Javon Small (14.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game), an East Carolina transfer who has made at least two 3-pointers in 13 of his 15 games, and Bryce Thompson (12.6 points), last year’s leading scorer.

Freshman Brandon Garrison is OSU’s first McDonald’s All-American since Cade Cunningham. The 6-foot-11 center has been inconsistent to start the season but exploded for 20 points and eight rebounds against Baylor, and is one of the Big 12’s leading shot blockers.

“Certainly they’re capable of giving us all we want and more,” Self said of the Cowboys.

Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-8, 0-3 Big 12) vs. No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks (14-2, 2-1 Big 12)

• Gallagher-Iba Arena, Stillwater, Oklahoma, 8 p.m.

Broadcast: ESPN

Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9)

Keep an eye out

Take two: Tuesday will likely be the second go-round for the new KU lineup that features Johnny Furphy starting and Elmarko Jackson coming off the bench, after Self said he thought both players did well in their adjusted roles Saturday. OU frequently went after Furphy on defense with its athletic guards making moves off the dribble — not a surprise given the defensive pedigree of his teammates like Dajuan Harris Jr. and Kevin McCullar Jr., and given that teams like Missouri had already targeted Furphy — and he’ll have a chance to adjust against another strong guard group Tuesday. Meanwhile, Jackson will try to bring even more energy on the offensive end after scoring his first points of league play versus the Sooners.

Playing clean: KU vexed the Oklahoma defense by committing just two turnovers, which turned out to be a program record, after giving away the UCF game with 18. Self even said one of the turnovers against OU was his fault, as he gave an instruction from the sideline that put Adams and McCullar out of sync. He’s said that the Jayhawks aren’t good enough on offense to give away possessions and need to keep their turnover tally to 10 or fewer. OSU has the worst turnover margin in the conference — the Cowboys force an average of 11.7 while giving up 13.8 — and while KU might not limit itself to two turnovers every game, it has a chance to accumulate another low total Tuesday. “It’s imperative that you get a shot every possession, especially on the road, and we need to do a good job in Stillwater with that,” Self said.

Expanding range: Adams, perhaps emboldened by his early success scoring against OU, took quite a few more jump shots than he has for much of the year. His offseason emphasis on increasing his range hasn’t been borne out too often, but he has sprinkled in occasional floaters to keep defenses honest — not jumpers quite as frequently. The form isn’t always the prettiest and the success rate isn’t the highest just yet, but he said he’s getting more comfortable with them.

Off-kilter observation

The latter-day history of KU basketball could have unfolded dramatically differently had Self accepted an offer to become the head coach at Oklahoma State in 2008, fresh off leading the Jayhawks to a national title. Self, who played college basketball at OSU and served as an assistant coach there for seven years, got a compelling sales pitch from then-athletic director Mike Holder to coach at a program he had once dreamed of leading, but ultimately took a contract extension at KU and said, “Home called. And we love home. But this is home now.”

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Written By Henry Greenstein

Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off "California vibes," whatever that means.