Here’s Kansas basketball’s mentality entering 2024 postseason without any momentum
Kansas men’s basketball enters the 2023-24 postseason — first up is the Big 12 tournament followed by the NCAAs — trending downward to say the least.
The Jayhawks, who have a pair of injured starters in Hunter Dickinson (right shoulder dislocation) and Kevin McCullar (bone bruise, left knee), ended their worst regular-season in the 21-year Bill Self era (eight conference losses beats previous low-water mark of six losses in 2018-19 and 20-21) Saturday with a 76-46 setback at league champion/No. 1-ranked Houston.
KU will enter a second-round Big 12 tournament contest against either Cincinnati or West Virginia (8:30 p.m., Wednesday, T-Mobile Center) having dropped three of their last four games and five of their last nine contests.
“I think being in Kansas City will definitely help,” KU senior forward Parker Braun said after Saturday’s blowout loss. “Having fans behind us can help us get our feet back underneath us. Whoever our opponent is, we’ll focus on them, not thinking about winning four in a row or three in a row (it’s four in a row for KU to take the tourney title). That is kind of behind us. We will make sure we focus on what is directly in front of us, take it one at a time.”
KU senior guard Nick Timberlake, who hit 1 of 4 3s against Houston after cashing 4 of 5 from behind the arc in a home win over Kansas State, agreed the fans could help the Jayhawks return to early-season form — the team that defeated Kentucky, Tennessee, UConn and Indiana.
“For sure. The fans definitely help us. (But) it’s a neutral site, not the fieldhouse,” Timberlake said. “It’ll be fun.”
Not as much fun if McCullar and Dickinson are unable to play in the Big 12 tourney and/or the NCAAs.
“Next man up, be ready,” Timberlake said. “When your number is called, keep it easy when you get out there.”
Braun, who had two points in 10 minutes against Houston, has a similar take on the team’s injury concerns.
“We hope they can get back as fast as possible. We can’t dwell on that,” Braun said of McCullar and Dickinson. “It’s unfortunate we can’t snap our fingers and they (are) better. It’s ‘next man up’ mentality, prepare like we are stepping into a new role. If they can come back great, if not we have to step into next-man mentality.”
One thing is for sure … KU enters the Big 12 tourney with absolutely no momentum after such a lopsided defeat — KU’s seventh in nine league road games. That 2-7 mark in league road games is the worst road mark in the Self era.
Asked how he’d handle the loss in talks with the team, Self said Saturday: “I don’t know how you handle it. We just talked to our guys. The way you handle it on Saturday may be different than the way you handle it on Monday. Hopefully the sun will come up tomorrow hopefully, and if it does it’ll be a new day. We’ll have a new perspective. The guys are down. They know. Certainly we didn’t do anything from an offensive or defensive standpoint or ever feel we could string together two or three possessions in a row.”
KU hit 15 of 45 shots for 33.3% to Houston’s 28-of-64 shooting for 43.8%, KU went 3-of-21 from 3 to Houston’s 11-of-29 mark. The Jayhawks were outrebounded 38-31 and committed 18 turnovers to the Cougars’ 10.
“We were awful. They were great, but we were terrible, not competitive at all,” Self said. His Jayhawks trailed 22-5 and 34-9 early.
“The worst thing about it is we’re so beat up. Kevin couldn’t go. Obviously ‘Hunt’ dislocated his shoulder. It popped back in, which is a good sign,” Self continued. “It wasn’t a good day coming down here at all. They outclassed us from a coaching standpoint, playing standpoint, from an athletic standpoint. Whatever it was, they were certainly better than us.”
Self said Saturday it’s possible decisions on the playing status of both McCullar and Dickinson may not be decided until game time Wednesday.
“Kevin has been day-to-day. I am tempted to — depending on the status with ‘Hunt’ — that may (determine) what we think about Kevin, too,” Self said.
Self has said repeatedly he’d like the team to be as healthy as it possibly can for the NCAAs.
“We definitely have to forget everything (as) a new season starts,” shooting guard Timberlake said. “Obviously we have to get back to work when we get back to Lawrence — new season, new opportunities.”
Braun said: “We’ve got to put this behind us. There are a lot of things we can learn from it. It comes down to being ready for the next one. You lose and go home now. The third season … when it starts, we didn’t pave the best path but all our goals are still in front of us. From now forward, take it like it could be our last game.”
