Bill Self Felt Kansas Played ‘Pitifully’ During Loss To BYU
Feb 28, 2024, 1:23 AM | Updated: 2:41 am
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas head coach Bill Self hasn’t experienced many losses inside Allen Fieldhouse during his 21 years leading the Jayhawks.
His frustration was highlighted after dropping his Dairy Queen Dilly Bar and getting a chocolate stain on his black Adidas quarter-zip.
Before the Dilly Bar spilled, BYU gave Self only his 18th setback inside “the Phog.”
BYU basketball handed No. 7 Kansas a 76-68 loss that no one saw coming.
Well, everyone but Self.
Bill Self sensed something was off with his team before facing BYU
The head coach of the Jayhawks had a bad feeling about the matchup with BYU earlier on Tuesday.
UPSET!#BYU takes down No. 7 Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse 😮 #BYUHoops #GoCougs #Big12 pic.twitter.com/Q2wpj3tegg
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 28, 2024
“You could feel this coming today at shoot around. We had a terrible shoot around,” said Self. “The focus wasn’t very good, the energy level wasn’t good and you could feel this coming.”
This year’s Kansas team has had its ups and downs. They’ve lost to Kansas State and West Virginia. So, it’s not unusual for KU to lose this season.
It didn’t help that Kansas’s leading scorer, Kevin McCullar, continued to be out with a bone bruise in his knee.
“This is who we are,” Self said. “When we’re good, we’re pretty good. And when we’re not, we’re not.
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But to lose at home? They had not lost a game to an unranked foe since 2018 against Oklahoma State.
BYU hit 13 threes and tightened up defensively, holding Kansas to 27.6% shooting from the field in the second half.
Kansas star center Hunter Dickinson was held to 17 points as BYU caused some headaches for the former All-American by monstering him in the post with their bigs or wing defenders on the help side.
The loss drops Kansas to 9-6 in Big 12 play. BYU notches its 20th win this season and improves its conference record to 8-7.
“We’d played pitifully tonight,” Self said. “But when I say we played pitifully, that can give the appearance that I’m taking something away from BYU. BYU was better than us tonight.”
Self gave praise to BYU’s offensive performance in the second half
Kansas had been on an 87-game winning streak when leading at the half. That ended on Tuesday.
BYU guard Dallin Hall hit clutch shots, along with Noah Waterman and Jaxson Robinson, down the stretch to lift the Cougars to the upset victory.
“After we got up 12 in the second half, they controlled it, and we hoped to score, and they actually ran the offense to score. So you know, give them credit,” said Self. “They caused us to look bad and they were successful.”
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
