The takeaway from Kansas Jayhawks’ loss to Texas Tech that will stick with Bill Self
About six years ago, I spent the day with Kansas women’s basketball coach Brandon Schneider for a story, and one answer he gave that day has stood out since.
Schneider was getting interviewed by a Big 12 conference reporter, who ended their chat with rapid-fire questions: What’s your favorite dessert? Song? Who was your celebrity crush growing up? Do you have a team motto?
Most of the queries were silly and fun until Schneider was asked about his biggest pet peeve.
His face became serious.
“Allowing an offensive rebound on a free throw,” he said, without much hesitation.
It’s a moment that flashed back to me at United Supermarkets Arena on Saturday — and for good reason — as the KU men’s basketball team fell to Texas Tech, 75-67.
Try as we might, it’s often difficult to get into the minds of coaches. We can hear them in press conferences and watch them during games, but the reality is, much of their jobs are accomplished behind closed doors and away from what the TV cameras and microphones catch.
It’s why Schneider’s quote — to me — was so revealing. I’d never really thought much about allowing offensive rebounds on free throws. Is that a thing? Does it happen often?
And yet Schneider, admittedly, was obsessed with it.
Which helps take us inside the thought process of coaches like Schneider and KU men’s coach Bill Self.
The emphasis here isn’t on what’s lost when giving up an offensive rebound. And in the grand scheme of things, there are probably tens of thousands of other factors more critical during any particular game.
Yet, this is vital because of what it represents. Free-throw defensive rebounding is controllable. It’s something that anyone can execute and do well not with talent but simply by paying attention and focusing on critical details.
That’s why one second-half play seemed emblematic of KU’s overarching issues against Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders’ Bryson Williams was fouled before the 12-minute media timeout while earning a one-and-one. That gave the Jayhawks a few minutes to regroup before Williams attempted his first shot.
In college basketball, teams typically get only about 10% of their missed free throws back through offensive rebounds. In other words, it’s a rare occurrence that doesn’t happen every game.
When Williams missed, though, Texas Tech did get it back, partly because KU senior Jalen Coleman-Lands forgot to block out the shooter.
The gaffe cost KU three points, with Marcus Santos-Silva later putting in a layup with a foul.
Coleman-Lands took care of the shooter on that subsequent free throw. By then, though, it was too late.
As one might expect, Self brought up the missed free throw block-out unprompted in his postgame interview. He cited it as one of many examples of KU’s lapses against Texas Tech.
“I think you could take away three or four of those plays, and I’m not saying the outcome would have been different,” Self said, “but it would have been one- or two-possession game.”
Self didn’t bring up this sequence to pick on Coleman-Lands (whom he didn’t mention by name). We know that partly because Self made clear he wasn’t thrilled with any of his vets afterward when it came to enthusiasm or execution.
The KU coach said Jalen Wilson backed out of some rebounds that should’ve been his, and Christian Braun “didn’t play good at all.” In addition, Self said Ochai Agbaji’s defensive mistakes cost the team three straight possessions early in the second half, and he doesn’t know what to expect on a nightly basis from upperclassmen Mitch Lightfoot and David McCormack at the 5 spot.
Add that all up and you get to a stat that reflected where Texas Tech won the game: The Red Raiders had 44 points in the paint, while the Jayhawks had 18.
Self’s hall-of-fame career has been built on his team getting easy baskets and not giving them up. Too many mistakes in this contest meant the Red Raiders beat him at his own game on Saturday.
“I didn’t think we competed very hard,” Self said.
If this were the NBA, there’d be less worry for KU. An 82-game schedule means that off nights can be forgotten more quickly, with no single result ever really meaning more than the big picture.
The Jayhawks don’t have that luxury in college basketball because of the Big 12 race. Baylor was already the heavy favorite, so this Texas Tech loss means KU — just two games into league play — already has no margin for error ahead if it wants to compete for that championship.
If Self could have his players take away one lesson from the defeat, it seems to be this: They need to come ready to match the spirit of their road opponents.
“We obviously didn’t have them prepared,” Self said, “to go against a team that really, really tried hard.”
Self can shrug off missed shots, and he can be OK if inevitable bounces or calls go the opponents’ way.
What bugs him, though, is part of what makes many coaches tick.
KU didn’t take care of the controllables on Saturday afternoon in west Texas.
And as a result, he knows, the deserving team won.
This story was originally published January 8, 2022 at 8:54 PM.
