It was a frustrating night for the No. 7 Kansas basketball team as they fell at home to the unranked BYU Cougars Tuesday night, 76-68. Jayhawks head coach Bill Self spoke after the game and was candid in talking about the team's performance, especially expressing how he felt about the contest before tip-off.

The Kansas basketball head coach in Self would say he expected a mediocre performance from the team at shootaround, saying it was a “terrible” session. However, he would mention that times like that happens over the course of a season” when a squad has “days like this” according to Myron Medcalf of ESPN.

“You could feel this coming today at shootaround,” Self said. “We had a terrible shootaround. The focus wasn't very good. The energy level wasn't very good. It's not anything from an attitude standpoint. It happens over the course of a season where you have days like this.”

While teams will not accept any excuses for losing, one could argue the Kansas basketball team has one as their leading scorer in Kevin McCullar Jr. has missed the last five games because of a bruised knee. His status for the future is uncertain, even in the eyes of Self who said that the Jayhawks are “preparing like he won't” come back.

“We're preparing like he won't [return],” Self said. “This is who we are. When we're good, we're pretty good, and when we're not, we're not. We played pitifully tonight. … It would help if we had [McCullar] back. But we've been dealing with this for about five weeks where he hasn't been himself from a health standpoint. Even when he played, he wasn't himself. We're not counting on [his return]. We hope it can happen, but we're certainly not banking on it.”

Self questions McCullar Jr.'s return to Kansas basketball team

Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self reacts to play against the Brigham Young Cougars during the first half at Allen Fieldhouse.
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

McCullar Jr. had been averaging 19 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game while shooting 46.3 percent from the field. He was definitely in the midst of a exceptional season where he is a projected first-round pick in the upcoming NBA draft per ESPN. Even Self himself questioned McCullar Jr.'s return according to Through The Phog.

“My concern is: Will he play again this year?” Self said before the BYU loss. “It’s not a day-to-day deal; it’s a week-to-week deal. He obviously won’t go on Tuesday [against BYU]. I’m not going to put him out there because he’s missed so much time, even though you can look at games and number of games missed, but that’s not the story. The story is he played against OU and (before that) had two days of a little bit of practice and then played.”

While it is always an upset loss when an unranked team beats a ranked one, this has not been a rarity for the BYU Cougars. This season as the win Tuesday night marks their fourth victory against a ranked opponent.

The Kansas basketball team is now 21-7 on the season and has dropped to 9-6 in the conference after the defeat. It does not get any easier for the Jayhawks as their next opponent is against the No. 15 ranked Baylor Bears on Saturday afternoon.