Just two games remain for most teams in college basketball's regular season, and it's still tough to get a handle on Bill Self's Kansas Jayhawks. At times, Kansas looks like one of the best teams in the country and a team that can win a national championship, and at others it looks like a first-weekend exit.
Kansas followed the latter path on Saturday, putting together a flat game in an 84-61 blowout loss on the road against No. 2 Arizona. Self and company fell into an early hole before Darryn Peterson helped them close the gap early in the second half. The Jayhawks were unable to withstand another Arizona run, however, as the Wildcats pulled away for a comfortable victory.
There's no shame in losing in Tuscon; Kansas isn't the first and won't be the last to suffer the same fate. However, Self was understandably unhappy with the way his team played in the loss, and he called out his players after the game via Michael Swain of 247 Sports.
“A guy getting in early foul trouble is not the [reason for a] 22 rebound difference,” Self said. “I just thought they were so, so aggressive, and I thought that we played really soft to be really honest with you. I mean, foul problems don't help. But still, though, we played soft.”
Of course, Kansas handed Arizona one of its two losses this season less than three weeks ago in Allen Fieldhouse, so the Wildcats had revenge on their minds coming into this game. Self credited the home court advantage of both teams for the season split before adding another dig at his squad's performance.
“For 10 minutes we were actually much better, but overall, the course of the game, physically, they just wore us out, they whipped us,” Self added.
Kansas is still in good shape to secure a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and it should be able to run the table for the rest of the regular season with games against Arizona State and Kansas State before the Big 12 Tournament. If Self can get Peterson and the rest of this team playing close to its best basketball again, this Jayhawks squad can still beat anybody in the country as March gets underway.
