In the 10-year history of Kansas City’s aging-but-still-new Sprint Center, just five programs have walked into Kansas basketball’s home away from home and come out victorious.
One of them was Davidson, which was one of two teams to defeat the Jayhawks at Sprint Center during the 2011-12 season. The Jayhawks, of course, wound up reaching the national title game in New Orleans that season, but not before going 1-2 in Kansas City, including a loss to Baylor in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship.
The Davidson loss, which came on Dec. 19, 2011, featured a Kansas team that shot just 40 percent from the floor — including 6 of 23 from three-point range — and did not force a single Davidson turnover in the second half of a game that was tied with 6:33 to play but saw Kansas end up losing by six, 80-74.
Although the rosters have turned over completely since that night, KU coach Bill Self said one thing remained the same about KU’s next opponent, which the Jayhawks will face at 6 p.m. Saturday in Sprint Center — Davidson coach Bob McKillop.
> “He’s a great coach,” said Self of the
> man who became popular in the
> mainstream for recruiting and coaching
> Steph Curry but also happens to have
> racked up 521 victories during his
> 28-year head-coaching career at
> Davidson.
Kansas and Davidson have met just one other time throughout the years, with Self and the Jayhawks holding off Curry, McKillop and Davidson in the 2008 Elite Eight to advance to the Final Four en route to the ’08 national title.
Despite that victory, which was and still is monumental in Self’s monster career, the KU coach, true to form, was more focused on the loss to Davidson than the win following KU’s most recent victory last weekend.
> “The last time we played them in
> Kansas City, they beat us,” he
> recalled. “So we’ve got to play better
> than we did (vs. Nebraska last
> Saturday), or at least the second
> half. That’ll be a tough game and I
> think one that our guys will look
> forward to.”
But playing well against Davidson on Saturday night is about more than just winning a single game. With just two non-conference games remaining before the Jayhawks (9-1) open Big 12 play Dec. 30 at TCU, Self wants to see more improvement from his team before it turns the page to beginning its quest for a 13th straight Big 12 regular season title.
> “We need to finish the semester off on
> the right foot because once we get to
> Christmas there are no guaranteed
> games before we start hooking up and
> playing for real,” Self said. “We’ve
> got to make some improvements before
> we do that.”
Kansas is 33-6 all-time at Sprint Center, including 2-0 already this season. The Jayhawks defeated UAB and Georgia in Kansas City in November to bring home the CBE Classic title.
The Jayhawks are 6-0 in their last six games at Sprint Center and have not lost in the building since falling to Iowa State in the 2015 Big 12 Championship title game.
KU’s other losses at Sprint Center came to Iowa State in 2014, Syracuse in 2008 and UMass in 2008.
