No. 11 Kansas coughed up its biggest lead in school history in a 81-70 loss at Baylor.

The Jayhawks led by 21 points at one point in the first half and were up 40-21 at the break. But the second half was an absolute disaster as Baylor doubled up KU in an incredible performance.

The Bears cut the lead to four less than five minutes into the second half with a 19-4 run. Baylor then lost second-leading scorer VJ Edgecombe to an ankle injury, but that didn’t stop the Bears from another comeback. Kansas led 61-52 with 7:18 to go before the Jayhawks went on yet another scoring drought.

Kansas failed to score for 4:44 after Dajuan Harris gave KU an eight-point lead with 6:57 to go. In that span, Baylor outscored Kansas 17-0 before Zeke Mayo made a running jumper with 2:13 remaining.

But that basket was too little, too late thanks to Baylor’s flurry. It simply cut Baylor’s lead to seven at 72-65 before Hunter Dickinson fouled out. As Kansas collapsed, Dickinson started racking up late fouls to extinguish any chances of a comeback. Dickinson picked up three fouls in less than 30 seconds before fouling out with 1:51 to go.

Baylor put up 60 points in the final 20 minutes as Kansas got outrebounded 40-27 over the entire game. Baylor’s Robert Wright III scored 24 points and Norchad Omier had 18 points and 16 rebounds.

Kansas could be four games out of first

The years of Kansas’ Big 12 dominance seem far, far away. The Jayhawks won 14 straight Big 12 regular-season titles from 2004 through 2018. Kansas has won three since then, but finished five games back of first in a tie for fifth in 2023-24.

And Saturday’s baffling loss was the second horrible defeat for Kansas in eight days. On Jan. 25, the Jayhawks lost 92-86 in double-overtime at home to Houston after the Cougars improbably tied the game at the end of the first overtime following a stolen inbounds pass.

The defeat to Baylor drops Kansas to 6-4 in the Big 12 halfway through the conference season and potentially four games behind Houston if the Cougars win at Texas Tech on Saturday. Had Kansas held on for what should have been an easy win, the Jayhawks could have been as few as two games out of first.

Instead, KU has a very uphill battle. And a big game on Monday, too, as No. 3 Iowa State visits Lawrence.