Will KU Jayhawks be ‘ready to roll’ at Texas Tech after grueling win over BYU?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- KU expelled heavy minutes and energy vs. BYU, leaving key players fatigued for Texas Tech.
- Self plans light travel day, walkthrough, rest to recharge players before Monday's game.
- Texas Tech presents a high-powered challenge with Toppin and Anderson leading offense.
Bill Self knew his Kansas basketball players had given maximum effort — and basically were running on fumes — against BYU when one of his team’s most conditioned athletes was seen gasping for air during crunch time of the 90-82 victory Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
“Melvin … for the first time I think I saw him get tired today,” Self, KU’s 23rd-year coach, said after Melvin Council Jr. played all 20 minutes the second half, draining the biggest shot of the game with one minute to play and KU up 82-78.
Council, a senior transfer from St. Bonaventure, hit an off-balance 16-footer with three seconds left on the shot clock, extending KU’s lead to six points. No. 14-ranked KU (16-5, 6-2) wound up outscoring the No. 13 Cougars (17-4, 5-3) 8-4 in that final minute, securing the victory in a game in which KU led by as many as 21 points.
“That was an exhausted team that if we had played 22 minutes in the second half, I don’t know if we would have had enough gas. But the guys used a lot of energy today,” Self said.
KU freshman Darryn Peterson (cramps) played just three minutes the second half, while Elmarko Jackson did not enter the game the final 20 minutes because of a knee injury. Only subs in the second half were Jamari McDowell (16 minutes) and Jayden Dawson (five minutes).
Those minutes totals are especially significant considering the Jayhawks’ next game is Monday night at No. 11-ranked Texas Tech. Tipoff is 8 p.m. at United Supermarkets Arena with a live telecast on ESPN. The Red Raiders had their five-game win streak snapped Saturday at UCF, 88-80.
KU has won five in a row since a 1-2 start in league action.
“The hard part of our schedule has started. We couldn’t start it off better than we did today, and we get rewarded by having to travel to Lubbock (Sunday) with a tired group,” Self said. “But hey, no pity party. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. We’ve got to regroup tonight (Saturday) and get some rest and come back ready to prepare tomorrow, and then let’s basically take a day off tomorrow and then be ready to roll on Monday.”
Self after Saturday’s game said he assumed Peterson and Jackson would be able to play against a Texas Tech team that blasted KU 79-50 on Feb 12, 2024 in Lubbock, then won over the Jayhawks in Lawrence last season 78-73. Tech is 11-0 at home this season.
“Elmarko tore his patellar tendon (in summer of 2024), rehabbed all year, came back and it has been great,” Self said. “It’s been a little sore lately, not enough to keep him out. Today he got it bumped and felt it. I asked if he could go back in. When I asked, he hesitated, and I knew what that meant.”
Tech this season is 1-1 against Houston and also has beaten Duke and BYU.
On Saturday at UCF, Tech forward JT Toppin scored 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting. He was 2-of-4 from 3 with 10 rebounds in 37 minutes. Christian Anderson scored 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting (3-of-8 from 3) with nine assists against four turnovers in 40 minutes. Donovan Atwell hit three 3s and scored 11 points in 37 minutes. The Red Raiders had seven players play 14 or more minutes.
For the year, Toppin, a 6-9 junior transfer from New Mexico, has averaged 22.4 points and 10.8 rebounds per game with a team-leading 33 blocked shots, while Anderson, a 6-3 sophomore from Atlanta, has averaged 19.6 points with 158 assists to 64 turnovers and a team-leading 30 steals.
Atwell, a 6-5 senior transfer from UNC Greensboro, has averaged 12.1 points and 3.1 rebounds. Atwell has cashed 73 of 165 3s for 44.2%. Anderson has made 72 of 165 treys for 43.6%.
“They have two All-Americans in Toppin and Anderson,” Self said. “I haven’t studied them like I will. We’ve got to guard the short roll and we’ve got to guard Anderson. We’ll try to figure something out to maybe give us a better chance. They got beat today by a talented team, same place that we went and left sad, and so I’m sure Grant (McCasland, coach) will have their full attention.”
A batch of NBA scouts likely will be at the game in Lubbock. On Saturday, 17 NBA teams were represented in the fieldhouse for the matchup between AJ Dybantsa and Peterson.
“This is a big game, but we’re going to have bigger games as we go forward. It’s the biggest game to date,” Self said of Saturday’s win over BYU. He said players love to put their talents on display for the NBA.
“You can’t tell me that Flory (Bidunga, sophomore forward who helped hold Dybantsa to 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting) didn’t love the opportunity to guard AJ or Bryson (Tiller) didn’t love the opportunity to go against one of their guys,” Self said.
Tiller had a hand in Richie Saunders’ face as Saunders misfired on a 3 that, had it fallen, would have cut KU’s late six-point lead to just three with 0:49 left. Saunders finished with 33 points, going 6-of-14 from 3.
“You can’t tell me that there’s not an individual pride standpoint, just like them guarding DP (Peterson) or whatever,” Self said. “One thing about having guys on your team that everybody would be watching from a professional standpoint, it allows everybody else the opportunity to be seen.
“We don’t talk about that, but I think that’s obvious. I did tell Flory, I said, ‘Hey, you got a wealth of opportunity right here before you as long as you (don’t) foul, because sometimes you get too geeked up and you get undisciplined and you foul.’ That wasn’t the case tonight.”
Bidunga along with good defense, contributed 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting (6-of-11 from line) with six rebounds and two blocks in 33 minutes.
KU will play Tech on Big Monday then will return home for two games: Utah on Saturday and Arizona a week from Monday.
This story was originally published February 1, 2026 at 11:39 AM.
