Former Kansas basketball players sounded off on Jayhawks’ blowout loss to BYU
The Kansas men’s basketball team was the topic of social media conversation on Tuesday night … for all the wrong reasons.
BYU blew out No. 23 Kansas 91-57 at the Marriott Center. It was the second-straight loss for the Jayhawks. KU has lost four straight road games in Big 12 play.
The loss also tied the largest margin of defeat of the Bill Self era (34 points).
Self gave a fairly blunt assessment in his postgame news conference.
“We need to get away from each other. I’ll tell you that point blank,” Self told reporters in Provo, Utah. “Guys need to get home — we should be back around 5 a.m. — and get away from us (coaches) for a day. Then let’s regroup on Thursday and start looking at some things that we can do to be a more connected and a more intangible-oriented team. Because when we play with intangibles, that leads to playing into athleticism, which leads to playing into toughness, which leads to playing into connectivity.”
Self wasn’t the only one frustrated by the performance, as fans and former Jayhawks stars voiced their displeasure on social media.
For a team that began the season ranked No. 1 in the country, KU hasn’t lived up anywhere close to expectations.
Cole Aldrich, a former All-American with the Jayhawks and eventual first-round pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, was disgusted by KU’s effort.
“Put the managers in. Maybe they care,” he posted on X/Twitter. Aldrich helped KU win the 2008 NCAA Championship and played eight years in the NBA.
Former KU center Landen Lucas also seemed baffled by what he was watching. He spent five seasons (2012-17) in Lawrence, and was the starting center for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 No. 1 seed KU teams.
He tweeted a GIF from the show “Community,” where a character returns to his apartment with pizza to find it on fire and in chaos — an apt comparison for the Jayhawks’ current season.
“Oh nice there’s a KU game on…” he tweeted with the GIF.
Finally, former player Mario Little summed up much of Jayhawk nation’s thinking.
“This is shocking to watch…” Little tweeted.
KU’s inconsistent play has prompted many former players to comment over the season, including current Denver Nuggets wing Christian Braun.
Braun helped lead KU to a championship in 2022 and played alongside current starters KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris.
He previously tweeted: “Play the guys who care about having KANSAS across their chest.”
Freshman Flory Bidunga started instead of Rylan Griffen as Self changed up his starting five on Tuesday. Alongside him were Harris, Adams, Hunter Dickinson and Zeke Mayo.
Braun tweeted out his support for the lineup before the game.
“Can guarantee these 5 will play hard regardless of how it will look,” he said.
Unfortunately for Braun, the lineup didn’t look very good. KU looks to get back into the win column on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse vs. Oklahoma State.
