The No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks are rightly celebrating off the back of what was one of the great games college basketball will see this season. Despite missing star guard Darryn Peterson thanks to “flu-like symptoms,” the Jayhawks were able to come back from as many as an 11-point deficit against the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats to take down the undefeated squad in an 82-78 thriller.
By no means was this game a staple way of how to win a basketball game, as a matter of fact, through various points on either side of the half, it looked as if the Jayhawks were teetering on suffering a blowout loss to an Arizona team that didn’t let Kansas lead until the 9:32 mark of the second half.
Yet, the Jayhawks ground out the narrow victory, having finished the game with four double-digit scorers, as Melvin Council Jr finished with 23, Bryson Tiller ended the night with 18, backup turned starter Jamari McDowell grabbed 10 points, and big man Flory Bidunga continued his recent run of form with an extra 23 for himself.
Through many points this season, Kansas has had to deal without Peterson, leaving Self to consistently call playing without the former No. 1 recruit in the nation as a “silver lining” for the team. While Kansas lost its two biggest matchups without Peterson (Duke 78-66, UConn 61-56), the team was well within reach of both games until the final five minutes before late slip-ups gave each game away.
“I don't know where our ceiling is”
All of the uncertainty and reshuffling of the lineup still leaves questions over just how great this Kansas team can be if it can maintain a healthy Peterson.
“I've said this all along. A lot of teams, this time of year, when you get to early February, they know where their ceiling is, and the great teams are operating pretty close to their ceiling,” quoted head coach Bill Self postgame.
“I don't know where our ceiling is, and I know that we're not close to it yet, though. So, I think that we got another big step that we can take, and it's exciting to know that I believe our best ball can still be well ahead of us.”
The biggest difference in Monday night’s win came in the second half defense. Consistently throughout the first 20 minutes, the Jayhawks’ defense looked timid and allowed the manly Wildcats to score with ease down low.
However, when the second half began, things immediately flipped, and Arizona saw their points in the paint production drop by six, while also only notching a 37.1% mark from the field, in comparison to their 51.4% rate in the first half, which ultimately led the Jayhawks to outpace Tommy Lloyd’s squad by a 7-point 40-33 margin in the second period.
Up next for the Kansas Jayhawks is another daunting matchup, this time in a rematch against the No. 5 Iowa State Cyclones. When the two sides met earlier last month, the Jayhawks constricted the Cyclones’ offense to just 63 points in what was an 84-63 win for Self’s squad.
Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. CT Saturday afternoon with streaming available on ABC.
Make sure to bookmark Through the Phog and follow us on X and Facebook with the username @Throughthephog