Although no one in crimson and blue has been happy about 9th-ranked Kansas’ dropping three games in the past 11 days, there’s been a certain sense of calm about it among the KU players.
The reason is simple — they’ve lost to some pretty good teams and they know it.
“It’s not like it’s just an embarrassment,” KU junior Jalen Wilson said earlier this week while meeting with the media to preview Saturday’s road game at Kentucky. “It’s just, how can we fine-tune things quickly and understand that all teams in the Big 12 are going to lose games. It’s not just us. I mean, we lose three games in a row and we’re still in right shape to win the conference. If we can just worry about whatever’s in front of us and not what’s behind us, we’ll be fine.”
Early this week, KU coach Bill Self even went as far as to say that the 2008 and 2022 national title teams likely would’ve lost to at least one or two of the teams the Jayhawks just played.
“I don’t usually make excuses and certainly will not now,” Self on his “Hawk Talk” radio show. “The people that feel the sky is falling because we’ve lost three in row probably don’t really understand the talent level of the opponents we’ve played here of late. We could have our team in 2008 or 2022 lose three in a row to the teams we just played (K-State, TCU and Baylor). It’s not good by any stretch, (but) it’s 99% of the stuff all the rest of the world goes through. We just haven’t gone through it here.”
Self also marveled at how, for the first time possibly in Big 12 history, the league has six teams at the top that can beat anybody on any night. He clarified: “I’m talking about anybody in America any night. We’ve got six teams that (have) proven over time (they’re) all capable of doing that.”
Wilson’s wise words are a big part of the reason the reason why the Jayhawks are still, at least as of today, alive and well in the Big 12 race that figures to come down to the very end and take a whole lot of years off of peoples’ lives.
Teams will lose. Teams have lost. And that’s going to continue until the first weekend in March.
Iowa State’s home win over Kansas State the other night went a long way toward keeping that in play. K-State, Iowa State and Texas are now tied at the top at 6-2. TCU, Baylor and Kansas all sit just one game back at 5-3. All six programs still have 10 games to go in the rough and rugged Big 12 race.
It’s still way too early to start looking at who has who left on the schedule to determine which school is in the driver’s seat. For one, KU hasn’t even played Texas yet and, for two, everybody still has everybody left. That in and of itself should make this thing wildly entertaining and very interesting all the way to the end.
That said, it may be worth noting that two of KU’s final three games in Big 12 play are at home against West Virginia and Texas Tech. They’re still not gimmes. But that’s a pretty good way for the schedule to fall if you’re Kansas.
In order for it to matter, the Jayhawks have to survive the next two weeks.
That starts with Saturday at Kentucky. No, the Wildcats can’t do anything to help or harm KU’s positiong in the Big 12 standings, but this game can mess with KU’s psyche.
Already thinking and questioning more than they had been because of the three-game losing skid, the Jayhawks have done an admirable job of keeping their heads high and their eyes forward. A loss to Kentucky, on a national stage, against a blue-blood rival like the Wildcats, could put a little deeper dent in KU’s overall confidence.
They’ve got the ultimate get-right game on the schedule next Tuesday, when Kansas State comes to Allen Fieldhouse. But, again, no matter how much the Jayhawks want revenge for the loss in Manhattan that’s far from a gimme.
So that makes this game big. Real big.
So, how can the Jayhawks get it done?
For me, it starts with one player — Kevin McCullar Jr.
He’s been a little off in recent weeks, both in terms of his production and his impact. And it’s time for him to elevate his game back to the level that it was in late December, when analysts around the country had him on their all-transfer teams at the midway point of the season.
His defense has been good. Better than people realize. You don’t land on the Naismith Award’s final 15 for defensive player of the year without being a damn good defender. But it can be better. And I’d imagine McCullar knows that.
Not only can his ability to get into passing lanes and apply ball pressure lead to easy baskets for him in transition, but he also can make sure that that kind of intensity rubs off on his teammates. At one point this season, Self gushed about McCullar’s ability to cover up for mistakes by his teammates on the defensive end.
He was confident, assertive and effective then, and that’s when this team was playing its best.
McCullar, perhaps more than any player on this roster, defines what Self means when he says that playing the right way and locking in on defense leads to good things elsewhere.
The Jayahwks are going to need big things from McCullar in both areas to get by the Wildcats. Here’s why.
After watching him try to carry the load offensively, we saw Jalen Wilson finally get some help on Monday against Baylor, when Gradey Dick went for 24 points to go along with 23 by Wilson. It still wasn’t enough.
KU needs another scorer in games like these, and McCullar can and should be that guy. Dajuan Harris Jr. and KJ Adams both have shown they can do it. But it’s not automatic or all that natural for either guy to fill that kind of role.
McCullar can — think attack the rim and transition with a few free throws mixed in more than outside jumpers — and a bunch of his points can and should come from his defense.
Active hands lead to breakaways toward the other basket. Extra focus on the scouting report and UK’s tendencies can lead to one or two trips into the passing lanes and an uncontested layup on the back end.
Add to that the fact that the Jayhawks need to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to rebounding in this one, and it’s easy to see how McCullar could answer that call, as well. Whether he grabs them all or not, he’s got to be in there, mixing it up with UK’s Oscar Tshiebwe and keeping balls alive for his teammates to grab. He’s long, athletic and experienced enough to do it, he just has to fly around and compete to make it happen.
Assuming Wilson and Dick are both able to score like they have been all season, here’s the line that McCullar needs to deliver to push Kansas over the top — 15 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.
Can he get it?
