Kansas Jayhawks still trying ‘to make a statement’ since win over Duke in November
Nine-point underdogs entering Monday’s game against No. 3 Houston, the unranked Kansas Jayhawks were not satisfied after playing Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars tough in a 65-59 loss on UH’s Senior Night at Fertitta Center in Texas.
“We were (ticked),” KU senior guard David “Diggy” Coit said of the mood in the locker room after the Jayhawks fell to 19-11 overall, 10-9 in the league and 2-2 in the “new season” embarked upon after a disappointing 0-2 junket to Utah two weeks ago.
“You want to come out with a win. You want to make a statement. We feel like we haven’t made a real statement since Duke (75-72 KU victory on Nov. 26) and that’s what we’ve been trying to do. So obviously we’re (ticked), but we are building so we understand that it’s going to be up and down and things that we didn’t have in the previous games we brought today. So we’ve got to keep building,” Coit added.
Coit, who scored 14 points with four assists and four rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench, said the Jayhawks brought as much passion into the Houston game as any game in recent memory.
“It’s been an up and down year, just like life is all up and down. It’s just about how you respond to things. I think we responded well to the fight, and I think in the past, we haven’t,” Coit said. “There’s no thing such thing as moral victories at Kansas, but that’s something we can learn from, and that’s something that we could take with us as we build along the way to try to make a run.”
No doubt the stat sheet showed the Jayhawks lacking in certain areas Monday against the league champion Cougars (26-4, 18-1). Houston had 17 offensive rebounds to KU’s five. KU totaled 20 turnovers to Houston’s six.
KU did pass the test in the area of intangibles, both coaches maintained in their postgame news conferences.
“It was a different feel in the locker room after the game,” KU coach Bill Self said. “I thought we had a pretty tight huddle. I thought the guys competed harder, even the guys that didn’t play. They all thought it felt different too. From that standpoint, no moral victories, but this was going to be … you have to play a fantastic game to win down here. And we almost pulled it off, just didn’t quite get it done.”
Self said he was “proud” of the players’ effort.
“We competed on the glass until the biggest possessions right there at the end,” said Self. His Jayhawks also lost to Houston 92-86 in double overtime on Jan. 25 in Lawrence. “I’ve got to go back and watch the tape. I think Hunter (Dickinson, 17 points, 12 rebounds) gets the crap beat out of him almost every possession, and didn’t have much to show for it.
“We played great defense and Rakease (Passmore) … I think he did hit his hand on the 3, but I mean, wow. That put it up five when we had momentum, obviously, to have a chance to tie or take the lead if, if he hadn’t done that.”
He was referring to freshman wing Rakease Passmore being called for a foul on a 3-point shot by Emanuel Sharp with 6:18 left. Sharp swished all three free throws to give Houston a 55-50 advantage.
“I thought KJ (Adams, 15 points, four rebounds) was exceptional. I thought Hunter was was pretty good. Obviously too many turnovers (Dickinson had seven), but they just lay, lay on him, and they beat the crap out of Zeke (Mayo, seven points, six turnovers) but he competed hard,” Self noted of senior guard Mayo. “I mean his stat line wasn’t any good, but he competed hard. And I thought it was a different feel from our entire team. And then, you know, we tried to play the toughest guys.
“Diggy I think is mentally tough. Guys tried. They were a little bit better than us tonight, but I think they (Jayhawks) responded in a positive way, considering the last 48 hours has (stunk).”
Houston coach Sampson spoke of the Jayhawks’ gritty play in Monday’s game.
“They have the No. 6-rated defense in the country. We are No. 3,” Sampson said. “They’ve got a got a 7-foot-2 center. They’ve got a brick wall of a 4-man in Adams and have got a kid at point guard that won the national championship (Dajuan Harris). I have so much respect for Kansas and the program. I’ve known Bill and coached against Bill since the early 1990s, 30 some years. So I always like to pay respects to the people that deserve it. Their kids played hard tonight.
“As far as J’Wan (Roberts, forward who had six points on 3-of-11 shooting) is concerned, Adams was hard to score on. They didn’t double him. (Adams) just did a great job of playing right in the middle. He wouldn’t give him an angle, and we tried moving him around. It was hard. Then when he got some looks in the first half, he missed them.
“I’ve told our kids many times, we don’t have to make shots to win. ... We have zero interest in trying to impress somebody on how good we look. End of the day the game is all about winning, not impressing somebody. We shot 35%. How did we win? By doing the things we are really good at. We have 17 offensive rebounds. We’re a top-5 offensive rebounding team in the country year in and year out. We forced 20 turnovers. They attempted 42 shots. We attempted 68.
“We had a lot of guys tonight that had a lot of good looks didn’t make them, but you know what? Maybe Kansas had a little bit to do with that, too. Kansas, played hard. They played tough today. That was a classic Big 12 slugfest,” Sampson concluded.
KU will next meet Arizona at 3:30 p.m., Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
