After winning 10 games in a row, the Kansas Jayhawks now find themselves on their first losing streak of the season after dropping games to Kansas State and TCU this past week. The latter of which was a 83-60 drubbing inside Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.
Fortunately for the Jayhawks, they have been in this position before. They lost to Baylor and TCU in consecutive road meetings last year before winning 11 consecutive games en route to a national title.
“Last year, we lost to Baylor and TCU in a row and ended up running the table after that,” Jalen Wilson said. “I think this is an eye-opening experience for us. One, that we are not invincible at home of course. And two, that we just got to take pride on defense.”
Wilson’s second point is especially key for this team, as the Jayhawks are not going to get this season back on track unless they play better defensively.
KU posted a defensive efficiency of 117 in Saturday’s defeat, per Bart Torvik, which marked the team’s worst performance of the season. The Jayhawks surrendered an effective field goal percentage of 61.4%, which was also their worst clip by nearly five percentage points.
TCU, a team that ranked 348th in the country in 3-point percentage entering Saturday, managed to finish 8-for-15 from beyond the arc against Kansas. It marked the most triples made in a game by the Horned Frogs since they went 9-for-18 from deep against Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 18.
Some of that can be attributed to shooting luck, but KU also didn’t do a good enough job of forcing bad shots. According to Synergy Sports Technology, seven of TCU’s 11 catch and shoot jump shots were unguarded.
“This league is so good that if you can’t make other people play poorly, you are not going to have a lot of success in the league,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
Self typically prefers to have a defensive-oriented team, but it is clear the Jayhawks are not living up to his standards since conference play began. The numbers back that up, too.
Per Torvik, KU has posted a defensive efficiency of 104 or higher in five of its seven league games after being below 100 in that metric in each of the first 12 nonconference contests. After surrendering 83 points in back-to-back losses (though the K-State game went to OT), Kansas is now giving up 71.7 points per contest through seven league games. For comparison, the Jayhawks are allowing 67.1 points per game on the year.
While the league has obviously been a step up in competition, it is clear the Jayhawks aren’t defending as well as they are capable of.
“We are going through a phase right now that I think we can guard in stretches, but we are not guarding like we did against Indiana,” Self said. “We are not flying around like that. Scouting report is a big deal with a couple of our guys and that’s disappointing to me.”
Perhaps the biggest concern is KU’s perimeter defense. Kansas ranks 10th in the Big 12 at defending the 3-pointer since league play began, allowing opposing teams to shoot 37.4% from long range. KU has surrendered seven or more 3-pointers in five of its last seven outings.
“We know exactly what we need to do, so it is not like we are confused by how we are losing games,” Wilson said. “It has to be something we take pride in, is them having to adjust their game plan because of our intensity (and) our aggressiveness on both ends.”
The good news for the Jayhawks is that they have the pieces to get it all resolved on the defensive end. They still rank fourth in the conference in adjusted defensive efficiency after this start. Kevin McCullar Jr. and Dajuan Harris Jr. are both strong individual defenders. KU remains extremely versatile and can switch on every ball screen.
Unfortunately for Kansas, there are no nights off in the Big 12. That means this thing will have to correct itself on the court. KU will travel to Waco on Monday to face a Baylor team capable of making anyone look silly on the defensive end.
The Bears rank No. 2 in the country in offensive efficiency and have won four in a row since stumbling to a 0-3 start in league play. Baylor’s backcourt trio of Keyonte George, Adam Flagler, and LJ Cryer will be a difficult assignment for a KU defense trying to find its way.
“There’s some things that we can do to tighten some things up that I think would put us in a better position to play better on Monday,” Self said. “But, you know, you (could) go to Baylor and play better and those three cats can make 15 threes.”