Kansas basketball: Jayhawks come up short against Dayton

Thanks to some good fortune and luck from the college basketball gods, the Dayton Flyers were able to take down the Kansas Jayhawks, 74-73, at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando, Florida.

This was a clear upset for KU, who came into the game as more than a 15-point favorite. The Jayhawks were on the wrong end of luck as Dayton’s Mustapha Amzil hit the buzzer-beating, off-balance shot that hit every part of the rim before bouncing up and swishing down through the net.

Kansas will not be able to bring home it’s first trophy of the year as they struggled in quite a few areas, including the free throw and three-point line, where they were just 9 of 20 and 4 of 19, respectively.

Jayhawk fans, however, were feeling fairly comfortable through 20 minutes of play as KU had a 10-point lead at halftime before the Flyers tied it at 49 just four minutes into the second half.

Through the second half, KU labored to get shots and allowed Dayton to get virtually anything they wanted offensively while giving up a 12-0 run.

The KU guards led the effort as Ochai Agbaji finished with 21 points and Christian Braun and Remy Martin finished with 17 a piece. Down the stretch, Agbaji scored a layup and dunk with a Martin score in between to put KU back up by 3 with just over a minute left.

However, in the final minute Dayton got a score and David McCormack picked up a charge, which set up Amzil’s game-winning shot.

Many viewers were quick to give McCormack heat for costly missed bunnies and the detrimental turnover in crunch time. It was clear the big man labored – Self acknowledged it in his post-game interview – and he must figure out a way to improve for KU to reach it’s ceiling.

Overall, this was not a good loss for the Jayhawks. They were expected to and should have pulled out the win, especially considering the lead they held in the first half. However, KU faithful must remember it’s still early in the season and this team has a lot of new pieces.

Coach Self and company will work hard over the next month to figure out a rotation that has the Jayhawks playing top-five basketball.