After one of the worst losses during Bill Self’s long tenure at Kansas, the Jayhawks coach didn’t pull punches when talking to reporters Saturday.
“That was a beatdown,” he said after No. 2 Kansas lost to No. 14 TCU, 83-60, per The Kansas City Star.
It was the second-largest home defeat during his 20-year tenure with the Jayhawks—the worst coming on Jan. 2, 2021, when they lost by 25 points to Texas. The drubbing is also believed to be the fifth-largest margin of defeat for the Jayhawks in Allen Fieldhouse history.
“We can talk about the bench. That’s not the problem,” Self said after TCU’s reserves outscored Kansas’s bench players, 39-5. “The problem is guys playing the majority of minutes didn’t do anything, nor did we (coaches) get them to do anything to get the other team to play poorly. That’s where the issue lies. We’ve got to clean that up.”
The Horned Frogs scored at will throughout the night, shooting 54% from the field and 53% from behind the arc. Kansas couldn’t seem to buy a bucket, shooting 39% from the floor and 33.3% on three-pointers. Jayhawks forward Jalen Wilson led all scorers with 30 points but knows his team’s defensive woes are a major issue.
“We’ve got to take pride in guarding, getting stops. Teams are way too comfortable against us,” Wilson said. “Today they got anything they wanted to get.”
Kansas (16-3, 5-2 Big 12) plays at No. 21 Baylor on Monday at 9 p.m. ET. TCU (15-4, 4-3) plays host to Oklahoma on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.
