Three takeaways from Kansas Jayhawks’ basketball loss at Iowa State Cyclones
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self was in disbelief.
As Self slowly walked away from the referee, he shook his head.
KU point guard Dajuan Harris had aggressively driven to the hoop and appeared to be pushed out of bounds by an Iowa State player. Instead of calling ISU for a foul, the referee called an out-of-bounds turnover on Kansas with 8:52 to play.
Naturally, Self was irate. That play perfectly encapsulated the game for the Jayhawks, where nothing seemed to go their way.
No. 23 Iowa State defeated No. 7 Kansas 79-75 on Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.
The game had a crazy last few minutes.
In the second half, KU mounted a furious comeback to cut ISU’s 12-point lead to two with 1:10 left, but ISU’s Keshon Gilbert answered with a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left to give ISU breathing room.
KU’s Hunter Dickinson then missed a 3-pointer, essentially clinching the game for the Cyclones after Iowa State’s Curtis Jones hit both free throws with 19 seconds left.
Dickinson scored 20 points and Kevin McCullar added 15 points for KU (16-4, 4-3 Big 12) as Iowa State earned its second-straight victory over Kansas at Hilton Coliseum.
Next, Kansas will play host to Oklahoma State at Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday.
Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s game:
Defensive battle in the first half
Heading into the game, both teams ranked in the top 30 in adjusted defensive efficiency, a metric that evaluates a team’s defense on a points-per-possession basis. That was on full display in the first half.
Both teams had long stretches without scoring — Kansas went scoreless for about five minutes, while ISU went scoreless for nearly four minutes.
KU shot an abysmal 11-for-32 (34.4%) from the floor, including 1-for-9 (11.1%) from 3-point land in the half. Iowa State wasn’t much better. The Cyclones shot 11-for-30 (36.7%) overall in the first half.
The big difference? The Cyclones made more 3-pointers, shooting 5-for-15 (33.3%) from deep.
Kansas shot 45% for the game, while Iowa State hit 45.9% of its field goals.
Kansas’ turnovers and poor shooting prove costly
Midway through the second half, Iowa State tied season-high in 3-pointers with 10.
It was just that kind of night for the Cyclones, with ISU’s Tre King making 4 of 7 3-pointers. He made four all last season and had only made three entering today.
ISU finished the game shooting 14-for-30 from 3. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks shot 7-of-20 on 3-pointers.
On top of that, KU had 12 turnovers that turned into 15 Iowa State points. ISU finished with a 15-9 points-off-turnovers advantage.
In losses earlier this season, turnovers and 3-point shooting have proved to be decisive categories.
Hunter Dickinson and Johnny Furphy excel
In a game not filled with many positives, Dickinson and Johnny Furphy were major bright spots.
Dickinson finished with 20 points on 9-for-18 shooting, along with 15 rebounds. Meanwhile, the Australian youngster Furphy had 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting with six rebounds
They were able to get to their spots and score efficiently vs. the Cyclones.
McCullar joined them with a notable scoring total of 16 points, but he shot 5-for-18 from the field. The Jayhawks only got two bench points, while KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris combined for 22 points to round out the starting five.
This story was originally published January 27, 2024 at 3:03 PM.
