Fort Worth, Texas — Forget the Big 12 race or the joy of winning a grinder on the road; Kansas point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. had just one thing on his mind when the final horn sounded on 3rd-ranked Kansas 63-58 road win at No. 24 TCU on Monday night.
Get the ball.
So, as soon as TCU’s Mike Miles Jr. threw the ball the length of the floor with little joy and no hope of winning, Harris chased it down.
Less than an hour later, the ball was still with the Jayhawks, with a few messages scribbled onto it, including “Road Kill,” “Get Back Gang” and “Funky TCU,” which was a nod to the “Funky Town” nickname associated with Fort Worth.
“We had to get this one back,” Harris said of the orange Nike basketball after the win. “When we lost (to them) the first game, we saw they posted (our game ball) on social media, so we really wanted this win, we wanted the ball, too. So, as soon as the buzzer went off, I had to go get it.”
Added KU freshman Gradey Dick, who scored 19 points in Monday’s win and walked out of the gym wearing one of the white-out T-Shirts that TCU gave away for Monday’s game: “They were petty with it so we had to be petty, too.”
That word — petty, with no R as the second letter — was the perfect word to use in the aftermath of Monday’s victory, Kansas’ fifth in a row in Big 12 play.
Because there certainly was nothing pretty about the way the Jayhawks won. But they liked everything about the outcome.
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PHOTO GALLERY: Kansas basketball at TCU
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“The one in Lawrence (an 83-60 TCU victory), we played awful and they played great and we didn’t do anything to make them not play great,” KU coach Bill Self said after the victory. “Today, at least we guarded and rebounded for 40 minutes for the most part.”
The Jayhawks (23-5 overall, 11-4 Big 12) held TCU to 30% shooting on the night and out-rebounded the Horned Frogs 48-42. They also turned it over just 11 times and somehow outscored the bigger, taller TCU team 42-30 in points in the paint.
Rebounding, which Dick said was “huge” in delivering the victory, played a big role in KU’s edge inside. Thirteen of KU’s rebounds came on the offensive glass, and that led to 10 second-chance points. On a night when it takes everything you’ve got to get to 60, scoring 17% of those off of effort plays on your own misses is massive.
“(It was just about) trying to figure out a way to win,” KU junior Jalen Wilson after finishing with seven points and 13 rebounds. “On the road, it’s never going to be always pretty; you’re going to have to win some ugly games. Today was one of those games, but at the end of the day, we’re going to find a way to win (and) do what it takes to win.”
No stretch better illustrated that than the final five minutes, when KU scored just three free throws in the final 4:45 yet still came away with the victory.
The biggest stop came on a tie-up of TCU forward Damion Baugh by McCullar, who Self said was both “terrific” and “fantastic” in a six-minute stretch during his postgame press conference.
“In the Big 12, you’ve got to get stops down the stretch to win big games,” said McCullar, who finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assits, 2 blocks and a steal.
That particular play, which actually was part block, part steal, part tie-up, came with around 30 seconds to play and Kansas leading by three. The possession arrow favored the Jayhawks at the time and, after running off about seven seconds, Wilson went to the free throw line to try to put KU up by two possessions.
Wilson, who shot just 3-of-11 on the night, missed the first charity shot, allowing TCU one last chance to tie. But Baugh’s deep 3-point try over Dick missed the rim and McCullar grabbed the rebound with 1.5 seconds to play. He was promptly fouled and, this time, KU got the free throws they needed to ice the game.
Make no mistake about it; Monday’s win was a big game. And, ball or no ball, the result moved Kansas a half-game ahead of Texas in the Big 12 race with three games to play. Texas will play host to Iowa State on Tuesday and Baylor, which now sits a-game-and-a-half behind KU will play at Kansas State.
A couple of minutes before the clincher, on back-to-back possessions with less than six minutes to play, the Jayhawks got a couple more stops that helped them build their cushion.
The first came when Wilson rebounded a TCU miss with his shoulder caught in the wing of a TCU player. And the second came when the Jayhawks forced an errant pass by the Frogs through the paint to reclaim possession.
Harris scored on a drive to the rim after one of the stops and Wilson recorded a tough offensive rebound and put-back after the other to put the Jayhawks up 60-53 with 4:45 to play.
A lot of that came immediately after TCU quarterback and Heisman Trophy finalist Max Duggan made a late entrance in a tuxedo after accepting the Davey O’Brien award on campus earlier in the night.
Duggan and his date were greeted by a wild ovation from the TCU fans as he took his seat at mid-court. Unlike Duggan’s success on the gridiron, however, his presence on the floor on Monday did not lead the Horned Frogs (18-10, 7-8) to victory.
Asked about the environment on Monday night, Self referenced the talented QB.
“I thought it was great,” Self said of the atmosphere. “It’s the best it’s been since I’ve been here. And if you just have Max Duggan walk in every five minutes it’d be even better. I’m just glad he didn’t get here any earlier.”
While KU’s obsession with snatching the game ball certainly suggested otherwise, the Jayhawks insisted that their main goal on Monday was just to continue to play with energy and effort, believing that doing that would give them the best chance at a favorable outcome.
That’s not to say that revenge did not play some type of role in Monday’s game. But the Jayhawks’ ability to focus on the right things while chasing that revenge says a lot about this team’s growth during the past month.
“They came in our house and pretty much just whupped us,” McCullar said. “We came out flat that day and we’ve been preaching ever since then trying to come out with more energy and just execute and play together and play the right way and today we did that and got a big road dub that we needed.”
Added Self when asked if he sensed his players really wanted to get TCU back: “They did. But I don’t look at it like that. I look at it like, they beat our ass and we just wanted to come play better this time. Since we’ve been at Kansas, I think two teams have swept us in 20 years and this easily could’ve been the third. Things like that might not mean anything to (the players), but I know that certainly motivates our staff, which probably trickles down to them.”
As for the added motivation of the game ball, Harris was asked on his way out the door whether getting the win or the ball felt better. His answer was the perfect summary for the way this team is starting to think.
“Both,” Harris said.
#KUbball PG Dajuan Harris with the game hall. TCU took it from Lawrence and posted it on social media & KU was determined to get it back tonight. Asked if getting the win or the ball was better, Harris said, “Both.” pic.twitter.com/89LzxmJqtX
— Matt Tait (@mctait) February 21, 2023
