BYU kicks off treacherous stretch of games for KU Jayhawks men’s basketball team
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- KU faces a five-game stretch vs ranked Big 12 foes that will shape standings.
- Coach Bill Self urges focus on one game at a time while managing rest and team rhythm.
- Players emphasize team defense and limiting BYU transition chances to contain AJ Dybantsa.
Off to a 5-2 start in Big 12 play, the Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team is about to embark on the most treacherous part of its league schedule.
The No. 14-ranked Jayhawks (15-5, 5-2 Big 12) play host to No. 13 BYU (17-2, 5-2) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse (ESPN).
Then they travel to Lubbock, Texas to take on No. 11 Texas Tech on Monday in a game that tips at 8 p.m. And after that, KU faces unranked Utah a week from Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse before playing No. 1 Arizona on Feb. 9 at Allen and No. 8 Iowa State on Feb. 14 in Ames, Iowa.
Those are five games that will play a huge role not only in KU’s placement in the league standings, but NCAA seeding.
“All of them are in the top 13 (with exception of Utah),” KU coach Bill Self said Thursday at a news conference held in advance of the KU-BYU game.
“The thing about it is in this league you want to win the next one. But you can’t put so much emphasis on you have to do this or you have to do that. Because the reality of it is when you play in good competition and great competition, it doesn’t always go as you script it or hope it to go.
“That’s the way it is in a lot of leagues across America, but this one more so I think than any (other) year. Everybody’s going to go through a hard phase of their schedule. There’s no doubt about that, but this is certainly the toughest phase of ours.”
It remains to be seen how well KU will play against BYU after a week in which the Jayhawks had no midweek game. Kansas’ last game was Saturday’s 86-62 win over Kansas State in Manhattan.
“We’re actually playing pretty well. So sometimes when you’re playing well you don’t want time off,” Self said. “It’d be like a football team that’s won seven in a row and gets an off-week.”
His team has won four in a row and five of six.
“And then getting an off-week, you want to keep that momentum rolling,” Self continued. “But I think from a rest standpoint and all that stuff, I can’t see it being remotely negative at all.”
Self, who has cut the rotation to a maximum of eight players during the hot streak, may stick with what’s been working.
“We’ve been playing seven and if you get get D.P (Darryn Peterson) back, that puts you at eight. So that’s more depth,” Self said. “We can go deeper than that and we probably will at times, but I think each game just dictates that.
“People have talked to me a lot. You guys ask questions about Kohl (Rosario). I’m not down on Kohl at all. Kohl is going to be a good player and he’s got to be ready when his time comes, but we’re just trying to do what gives us the best rhythm right now. And I actually think less has been more here of late.”
Freshman guard Kohl Rosario, who is averaging 4.2 points per game through 17 games, has played five or fewer minutes in five of KU’s last nine outings. He has not played in the team’s last two games, wins over Colorado and KSU.
Senior guard Jayden Dawson did not score in 14 minutes Saturday at K-State. Prior to that, he’d played six or fewer minutes in four straight games.
Of the upcoming game against BYU and fab freshman AJ Dybantsa, as well as games after that, KU sophomore Flory Bidunga said: “We just need to embrace it, each game one by one. I feel like that’s what we want, to play these tough ones. I feel these games with our past (games) will help us grow as a team for March Madness.”
Bidunga said BYU, which has dropped two of its last three games (at Texas Tech and at home to Arizona to go with a home win vs. Utah), “has a great team. They obviously have some good player.”
Dybantsa averages 23.6 points per game.
“Again,” Bidunga said, “it’s Kansas against BYU. It’s not just guard one player and then let the other ones figure it out. I feel like we need to do a team effort to stop them transition wise. They average a lot on transition. So, you know, that’s one of the important keys to take away.”
To slow 6-9 freshman Dybantsa, Bidunga said, “You just need to do your best. Play great defense. He will make some shots, make some tough shots. Obviously, if you play good defense you will stop some of those shots. Just be in the moment, take it step by step.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
