Three takeaways from Kansas basketball’s road loss to Big 12 newcomer UCF
Kansas forward KJ Adams hurried a pass to Elmarko Jackson, who stood in the left corner. Instead of an open 3-pointer, the ball deflected off the freshman guard and fell out of bounds with 4:35 left.
That was a common sight on Wednesday night against UCF. The usually composed Jayhawks made mistakes in the clutch, were careless with the ball and looked out of sorts.
A team that’s had a knack for winning close games fell apart.
UCF upset the No. 3-ranked Jayhawks, winning 65-60 in front of a sellout crowd on Wednesday at Addition Financial Center.
The Jayhawks, who led for almost the entirety of the first 27 minutes, lost their lead and fell into a seven-point hole. They trailed by only four with about 57 seconds to play, but Adams drove to the rim and was blocked.
UCF extended the lead to six, and Hunter Dickinson responded with a 3-point jumper to cut the deficit in half. UCF’s Darius Johnson iced the game by making two free throws to put the Knights up five with 15 seconds left.
Earlier, it looked like KU might run away with the game. Kansas led by as many as 16 and for nearly 22 minutes of game time, almost all of that coming in the first 27 minutes.
Leading at half 37-29, the Jayhawks watched as UCF went on a 19-7 run to regain control of the game. The Jayhawks called a timeout. They led only one time after, when the score was 53-52 for about 30 seconds.
Kevin McCullar scored 16 points and Dickinson added 12 as KU’s nine-game winning streak came to an end. The Jayhawks (13-2) lost their first-ever matchup against Big 12 newcomer UCF.
Up next: Kansas will host No. 9 Oklahoma at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday.
Until then, here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s game...
Turnovers gave the Knights the game
The Jayhawks let the Knights back in the game due to their inability to care for the ball.
Despite KU shooting 68% from the floor to UCF’s 38%, the Jayhawks only led by eight points at halftime.
Why? Kansas had nine turnovers that UCF turned into nine points off turnovers.
It wasn’t much better in the second half for KU, which finished with 18 turnovers. The Knights turned those turnovers into 18 points.
Meanwhile, the Jayhawks had only 12 points off 13 UCF turnovers. McCullar had five turnovers, Adams had four and Dajuan Harris — who had five turnovers in his last game — had three more.
Johnny Furphy has arrived
Bill Self turned to his bench with the Jayhawks trailing UCF 7-0 early. His first substitution went to freshman Johnny Furphy, in place of Jackson.
It paid off.
Furphy quickly canned a 3-pointer that forced a Knights timeout. Right after the timeout, he stole the ball and turned it into a thunderous dunk.
Later, KU ran an inbound play for Furphy that he converted into a quick layup. The sequence showed that Self and his staff had enough faith in the freshman to run an action that finished with him scoring.
Wednesday’s first half was just another example of how the Australian sensation has slowly started to look more and more comfortable each game.
He finished the game with nine points and four rebounds in 17 minutes, the most he’d played since Nov. 20.
KU’s bench put in work
The Jayhawks’ bench has been a significant weakness all season. It has lacked scoring production and overall consistency.
Well, the bench showed out against the Knights.
KU’s bench had a 12-point advantage over UCF in the first half alone (14-2). The bench provided some much-needed scoring relief, led by Furphy’s seven first-half points.
Kansas ended the game with a 9-point advantage in bench points (17-8). Nicolas Timberlake and Parker Braun combined for the other eight points. Braun also had three rebounds, a block and a steal.
