**1 – Jalen Wilson -** Wilson is doing everything he can to keep this Kansas team on track right now, especially on the offensive end, where he has exploded for 68 points in the past two games. Wilson was lights-out good in the first half of this one, almost single-handedly matching TCU’s hot start and keeping Kansas in the game. The game got away in the second half and both Wilson and Kansas were not very effective or efficient, but he still finished with a monster day of 30 points and 7 rebounds on 11 of 21 shooting, including 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Wilson’s not above anyone on this team in terms of needing to improve his defense, but it’s hard to criticize him too much with what he’s done offensively. None of it matters much to him, as he said after the game, “I’m just trying to win.”
**2 – Dajuan Harris Jr. -** His numbers won’t show you much — the 8 assists are nice but the 3 turnovers and 0 made field goals aren’t — but Self said Harris’ defense was good in the first half, singling him out as one of the only KU players who even remotely looked like himself for a chunk of this game. That’s good enough for me to plug Harris into the No. 2 spot after this debacle. But it’s definitely worth noting that Harris has not looked like himself of late, missing shots, laboring on offense and looking a bit tired and sluggish, as well. Basketball’s cyclical, like most sports. Just as was the case when he was red hot and couldn’t miss from 3-point range to open Big 12 play, now Harris can’t buy a shot. That, too, will come around. But he’s got to be better to help this team get back on track.
**3 – Kevin McCullar Jr. -** He made five of six shots — mostly layups — and genuinely looked like he was playing hard in the passing lanes on defense. But it just didn’t lead to much and he was again limited in far too many ways. Whether that meant looking too timid as a shooter — unwilling, even — or too relaxed while guarding his man, McCullar did not look in this one the way he looked during his recent hot stretch and given how tough the Big 12 is this season, it’s definitely a question about when that player will return. KU needs him on both ends to be the team that looked like it belonged in the conversation of Final Four and national title contenders.
**4 – Gradey Dick -** Another rough shooting night for Gradey is certainly made a little more understandable when you remember he is actually a true freshman. Still, he’s too valuable to this team to go through these kinds of slumps and have Kansas be OK. Dick is not one of the players these Jayhawks are that worried about. He’s got a shooter’s and scorer’s mindset and he’ll be fine on that end. Self talked Saturday about playing the right way and how that often takes care of the scoring. Gradey’s emphasis needs to continue to be on defense, effort, engery, etc. The offense will come. He’s too good of a shooter for it not to.
**5 – KJ Adams -** Foul trouble for the second game in a row made Adams a far less effective player on both ends, even though his effort was good while he was out there. He talked after the game about avoiding bad or silly fouls, but thinking too much about doing that can negatively affect one’s game. He, too, is going through a little bit of a funk right now. Effort will help him play through it and he needs the help of the other starters who have been struggling to ride his way through this.
**6 – Zach Clemence -** The only player on the Kansas roster with a positive plus/minus number on a disaster of a day, Clemence deserves credit for battling and trying to play his role and play within himself. It’s not the kind of role that can bail out this team on a day when the rest of the roster doesn’t play well, but it was one of those teeny-tiny silver linings if you’re one that wants to look for those sorts of things.
**7 – Bobby Pettiford -** Pettiford’s had games where he didn’t shoot much or play much but still had a big impact. This was kind of the opposite of that. He shot just 1-for-4 from the floor, turned it over twice and had virtually no impact in his 13 minutes. They keep looking for ways to get more scoring out of the first guard off the bench and Pettiford keeps making you wonder if he’s going to crack that code this season or not. Seeing how it was such a tough game for everyone on the roster, this is no surprise. But it also wasn’t good news by any means.
**8 – MJ Rice -** Got in early, played just two minutes and didn’t record a single stat. Rice needs time to get the reps he needs to get comfortable so he can make the kind of impact in February that Self envisioned before the season began. But Saturday was not the day to get it. And it’s hard to tell now when that time will come.
**9 – Ernest Udeh Jr. -** After a pretty quiet month, Udeh was the first big off the bench for KU on Saturday and he didn’t do a whole lot with the opportunity. Self said it’s hard to put too much blame on guys like Udeh and Rice when the starting five is struggling, but the Kansas reserves are not doing much to help and that’s what has the Jayhawks on a two-game losing streak and reeling a little bit.
**10 – Zuby Ejiofor -** Turned it over once and was limited to mop-up time after being the first big off the bench for a lengthy stretch. The saga continues with KU’s freshmen bigs.
**11 – Joe Yesufu -** The only thing different about Yesufu’s lone turnover and Ejiofor’s was that Yesufu’s came when it was still a game. That wound up hurting more and dropping him to the bottom after playing just 6 minutes and missing his only shot attempt.
Season standings
———–
1 – Jalen Wilson, 157
2 – Dajuan Harris Jr., 138
3 – KJ Adams, 132
4 – Gradey Dick, 128
5 – Kevin McCullar Jr., 113o
6 – Bobby Pettiford, 83
7 – Joe Yesufu, 67
8 – MJ Rice, 49y
9 – Zuby Ejiofor, 48
10 – Ernest Udeh Jr., 42
11 – Zach Clemence, 31z
12 – Cam Martin, 11q
13 – Kyle Cuffe Jr., 2x
*x – Out for 10-12 weeks with a knee injury starting Nov. 13*
*y – Missed 3 of the first 5 games of the season because of injury and illness*
*z – Missed Duke, Southern Utah and NC State games because of injury*
*o – Missed Nov. 29 game vs. Texas Southern with a groin injury
*q – Missed first nine games of the season with shoulder injury
