By Eric Lucio
Ice-cold shooting was the name of the game for the Kansas Jayhawks in their 69-47 loss to Houston on Friday in the semifinal matchup of the Big 12 tournament.
This was a stark contrast from the two teams’ first duel in the regular season, where Kansas won handedly 69-56 at Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas shot a season-low 24.6% from the field, only converting 14 of 57 shots and shooting 7-23 from deep. The Jayhawks missed their first 16 shots of the second half, allowing Houston to run away with the game. On the other side, Kingston Flemings, Chris Cenac Jr., and Emanuel Sharp led the way with a combined 9-14 from three.
“Obviously, we weren’t very good tonight,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “When you can’t score, you put yourself in a hole, and certainly we were in a big hole tonight.”
Houston dominated the box score in more ways than shooting. They got to the free throw line more with 19 shots compared to Kansas’ 18, outrebounded the Jayhawks 42-37, and the teams tied with eight turnovers each.
The Cougars opened the rematch on fire with a quick 13-2 lead in the first five minutes. Peterson kept the Jayhawks in the game singlehandedly in the first ten minutes of the half, contributing towards all of Kansas’ first seven points.
Houston held a steady lead for the majority of the half with Cenac Jr. leading the way, nailing three shots from beyond the arc and totaling 15 points of Houston’s 33 in the half.
“I knew [Kansas was] going to sag off, that’s what they did the last time we played them,” Cenac Jr. said about his three-point shooting. “[Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson] told me to just come in and shoot with confidence when I get [the ball].”
Despite the Cougars looking to pull away with a 29-17 lead and less than five minutes to go, the Jayhawks continued to keep it manageable. A three by Tre White and a steal and slam by Peterson allowed the Jayhawks to cut the lead to 29-25 with a minute remaining.
Self described the failed comeback as disappointing, mentioning how the team has been more than capable of completing comebacks this season.
After free throws from Cenac Jr., Flemings drew a shooting foul from halfcourt with 10 seconds left in the half to extend the Houston lead to 33-25 at the end of the half.
It was all Houston coming out of the break, immediately scoring a 7-0 run to lead by 15. Kansas’ offensive struggles continued in perhaps the worst way of the season, with only 11 minutes left in the game when Kansas scored its first field goal of the half on a Flory Bidunga dunk. Tiller notably did not play at all in the second half, with Self attributing the benching to a lack of physicality and rebounding.
“Sometimes you credit a defense, and sometimes kids just miss shots,” Sampson said. “But I thought our defense was connected tonight.”
Where Kansas struggled, Houston began to thrive. The Cougars went on an 18-4 run after a barrage of threes and free throws from Flemings, Sharp, and Cenac Jr. The Cougars steadily extended their lead with free throws, and despite a seven minute cold streak of their own, the damage was too much for Kansas to recover.
Although the Jayhawks as a whole struggled offensively, Kohl Rosario scored a season-high in Big 12 play of eight points in the final six minutes, concluding as the second-leading scorer for Kansas behind Peterson with 14.
Self spoke postgame about the changes that Kansas will have to make in order to advance in the upcoming NCAA tournament.
“We beat [TCU] yesterday. That will be the type of team we play either Thursday or Friday,” Self said. “…After Sunday, nobody’s going to remember [the Big 12 tournament]. Everybody’s going to be focused on next week, so hopefully it’s an opportunity to get our batteries recharged and do the same thing.”
Additionally, Melvin Council Jr. and Jamari McDowell both emphasized the importance of learning and forgetting about this game in order to improve moving forward.
The Jayhawks now await their fate on Sunday to see who they’ll face off against in the first round of the historic March Madness.