With the college football season ending earlier this week, college sports fans have shifted their attention over to college basketball, and it has not disappointed this week. Four of the five teams ranked in the top five went down this week, and one of those teams was Kansas basketball. The Jayhawks had lost just one game on the season, and they were going on the road to take on a UCF basketball team that just got blown out in their Pac-12 debut. The Knights took down Kansas, however, and a court storming was the result. College basketball never disappoints.

What was so impressive about this win for UCF over Kansas basketball was the comeback. The Jayhawks led by as many as 16 points in the first half, but the Knights never backed down, and they stormed back to earn the milestone victory. What UCF was able to do to shutdown Kansas on offense was the difference.

“They went soft press, back to zone and then ended it man to man,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said after the game, according to an article from 247 Sports. “We didn't do a good job at all. When we took Hunter out, we didn't really have any offense and we didn't do a good job of penetrating the zone or getting the ball to the high post. When we did, we got some looks. We didn't make them, but we got some looks. We were awful against their zone and then after it got kind of discombobulated and we couldn't run plays to score, we struggled for the rest of the night.”

When the Jayhawks led by 16, they had complete control of the game. The Knights were able to start their run at the end of the first half, and that's when things went south for Kansas.

“I told our guys and the under four timeout, we got to get this thing to 20 and not let it get to 10,” Self added. “Well, I should have said don't let it go to eight, because I wasn't smart enough to figure out that it went eight. Put yourself in a position to make it really hard on somebody. See, when it's at eight and you have momentum, it's manageable. If it had gone from 16 to 20, or whatever, now teams may be pressing or pressing more to try to get back in it and then it opens up easy baskets and rotation rebounding a lot of other things. So we messed the game up the last four minutes of the half.”

It wasn't that Kansas basketball played poorly in this game, it was just that UCF had a good plan in place. Self gave the Knights credit.

“A lot of times when people say they don't play well, the way it's written is that you're not giving the other team credit,” Self continued. “It should be written UCF totally took us out of everything. Okay. And I can say, to my guys, well, we didn't execute. We didn't do this. We didn't do that. But that was created because of UCF's activity. They're really athletic.”

UCF was picked to finish last in the Big 12 this season, and Kansas was picked to finish first. Bill Self thinks that says a lot.

“Well, it says a couple of things,” Self said. “It says that Johnny's done a great job and give them credit, they were better than us tonight. There's no understating that. They were better than us. On the flip side, we weren't very good. I mean, we got to take care of the ball. And we did some things that I think good teams shouldn't do, especially playing away from home in a hostile environment when you have control of the game. And then you do some very, very careless and loose things to allow them to get back into it. The game was lost, or the game was won, depending on which side you're on, in the last four minutes of the first half and obviously, the first three minutes of the second half. The depth of the league is great. You know, you're going into week two, and there are must-win games. Who would have ever thought that in an 18-game season you'd have must-win games going into week two. But that's kind of how it feels right now, not only us but for others as well.”

That was a disappointing loss for Kansas basketball, but this is a deep league. The Jayhawks are still one of the top teams in the country, and they will bounce back. They will immediately be tested again as #9 Oklahoma comes to town on Saturday. The Sooners also just suffered their second defeat of the season on the road against an unranked team. Both teams are looking for a bounce back victory.