‘We were beyond pitiful’: Kansas basketball's second-half collapse vs Baylor

‘We were beyond pitiful’: Kansas basketball’s second-half collapse vs Baylor

Posted by author February 2, 2025 Basketball

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For the second time in three games, Kansas basketball let a game against a Big 12 Conference opponent slip away.

The first was a game in January at home against Houston. On Saturday, it was a February road against Baylor. Sandwiched in between is a win at home against UCF that, if things didn’t bounce the Jayhawks’ way, could have been a part of what would now be a third straight defeat.

It’s not just that No. 11 Kansas (15-6, 6-4 Big 12) lost on Saturday at Baylor, 81-70, but how the Jayhawks lost. Much like the recent defeat against Houston, coach Bill Self’s squad had the game in hand before squandering a lead.

And it puts into focus the likely reality that, no matter how well KU plays the rest of this season, celebrating a Big 12 regular-season crown at season’s end is not in line to happen without significant help.

“They were great the second half, we were beyond pitiful,” Self said on the postgame show on the Varsity Network. “Played great the first half, probably could have been up more than 19 to be honest with you, we missed some bunnies.

“And in the second half we didn’t have anything going. We struggled against soft … pressure, again, and then we couldn’t guard them. And they were good. I mean, those guards were really good. But we couldn’t guard them, and then the building got into it, and then we didn’t have any answers.”

In a season with enough tough lessons at this juncture, Baylor educated Kansas with another one. The Jayhawks will have to continue to discuss why they haven’t been consistent enough to be the team they appeared to be entering the season. Other teams are ascending, and for every step forward Kansas takes it is too often taking an equal step back.

Maybe the more healthy the Jayhawks get in the weeks ahead, the better positioned they’ll be to reach the goals they set out to achieve this season. Guard Dajuan Harris Jr. and forward KJ Adams, who each played at Baylor, have each had to deal with issues recently. But the time in the regular season is ticking down, and that doesn’t leave much margin for error ahead of the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.

Regardless, Kansas has to turn the page and look to a game Monday at home against an Iowa State team that’s currently ranked No. 3 in the nation. There isn’t much rest in the Jayhawks’ future as they attempt to move past recent disappointments. How KU responds might not just show where it is among its Big 12 colleagues, but where it should be viewed come March.

“Hopefully we’ll be a lot better Monday than we were today,” Self said. “This was going to be a hard game, regardless. They’ve got good players. But the way we played the first half, having control over it, you would think that we would maybe have put ourselves in a better chance to win the game in the second half.

“But it’s disappointing and frustrating, and we’ve got to be better, I’ve got to be better, and certainly it sets up a tough game on Monday. But it’s going to be a tough game regardless.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.