What’s wrong with KU basketball, especially the Jayhawks’ bench? A new Kansas Q&A
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- KU bench: 26.6% minutes, about 11.6 bench points per game.
- Offense: No. 55 adj. efficiency (119); weak 2-pt and 3-pt shooting lately.
- Road struggles, Peterson’s health/cramping and rebounding vs bigs threaten hopes.
The Kansas men’s basketball team is in the midst of a bad slump.
The Jayhawks are 2-4 in their last six games and are trending downward as KU inches toward postseason play. Kansas ends its regular season Saturday, at home, against K-State.
There’s a lot to unpack as to why KU is struggling right now, but a consistent theme of the last few seasons is the Jayhawks’ bench. KU ranks No. 304 nationally in bench-minutes percentage (26.6%), and for good reason. KU also ranks No.3 52 in bench points per game (11.57).
I asked coach Bill Self what he needs to see out of his bench ahead of the Big 12 Tournament and, more importantly, the NCAA Tournament.
“We need Jamari (McDowell) and Elmarko (Jackson) to play well and then we need Paul (Mbiya) and either Kohl (Rosario) or Jayden (Dawson) to give us good minutes,” Self said. “If we can get to nine (available players), I think that would be a pretty good number for us.
“Playing big teams, I can see Paul having a role moving forward, playing bigger teams. It’s harder when we don’t play big teams.”
The Jayhawks desperately need more from their bench. Their hopes of making a deep run in March depend on it.
With that, it’s time for another Kansas Jayhawks Q&A. Thanks, as always, for the questions ...
Why do we suck? @Sully_2029
I don’t think the Jayhawks suck, but I also don’t think that this team looks like a real title contender at the moment.
Why is that? There are a bunch of reasons.
1. The offense is just not good enough. Kansas ranks No. 55 in adjusted offensive efficiency (119), which measures points scored per 100 possessions. Typically, NCAA champions rank in the top 20 in this stat (KU’s 2021-22 title team was No. 6 in the country).
2. KU’s offense doesn’t have enough dependable shooting. For two-thirds of the season, the Jayhawks got away with it because freshman star Darryn Peterson and Tre White carried the load from deep.
Now that Peterson’s shooting has cooled (like most of the team), this deficiency is glaringly apparent. When they can’t make 2-pointers at a high rate, or fall behind (as Kansas did in both recent games in Arizona), Self’s players must make more 3-pointers.
3. KU can’t win on the road. This has been a constant theme for the Jayhawks over the last three seasons. KU is 5-6 on the road in Big 12 play, and that’s not great because every postseason game will obviously be contested away from Allen Fieldhouse.
4. KU’s bench is bad, as mentioned above.
5. Peterson has hit a bit of a freshman wall. In his last 10 games, he’s shot better than 40% just four times. Since the OSU game, he’s shot 32.9% from the field and 24.2% from deep.
Throw in the fact that he’s missed a lot of games due to health issues, and one begins to see why KU hasn’t really figured out its best self when DP plays more minutes.
6. KU’s bigs are struggling of late. When Kansas matches up against bigger teams, the Jayhawks are susceptible to losing the rebounding battle and struggle to guard the paint.
7. The Jayhawks rank No. 320 in effective field goal percentage (47.9) in their last 10 games. In fact, KU is shooting an abysmal 46.6% on 2-pointers (ranking No. 341 in the country) during this stretch. Plus, KU just isn’t getting to the free-throw line often enough, ranking No. 300 in free-throw rate (28.5).
8. Multiple guys previously projected as dependable pieces of Self’s rotation — namely Kohl Rosario and Jayden Dawson — have not met expectations.
The Jayhawks’ defense is elite and gives this team a chance most nights. But throw in all of the elements I outlined above, and it’s easier to see why KU’s success has come in fits and starts.
It’s just … where’s the heart of the basketball team at? We have some all time memories of players who just refused to lose …. Then the last couple years we just get smoked @crane_chiefs25
The Jayhawks have had fewer games this season in which they flat-out don’t show up to play. But it happens ... and this seems to be more common in college basketball generally.
It’s rare to see max effort in every single game — and that’s true of any college team. I think KU’s issues start and mostly end on the offensive end. An NBA Draft evaluator told me early in the season that, aside from Peterson, KU’s 2025-26 roster wasn’t a “typical KU roster” that would win titles.
As Self has said, KU doesn’t have NBA Draft picks coming off the bench anymore. And the talent gap between Self’s program and the rest the Big 12 has all but evaporated thanks to NIL and other factors.
What happened to Peterson’s cramps? After all the sports world toasted him about it, suddenly they disappeared. @OliverBabbles
He still has them, he’s just playing through them. I asked Self about it earlier this week.
“I think he’s doing better,” Self said. “I still don’t think that he’s where he needs to be (in terms of) explosiveness. I think he’s closer, but I still think there’s another step he can take.”
If you don’t believe Self, I can confirm from sources within his camp, around the program and even inside NBA circles (scouts) that Peterson is, in fact, still dealing with sporadic cramping.
This does not appear to be some grand conspiracy.
