Despite a handful of impressive nonconference victories, the Kansas basketball team looked out of sorts for the better part of a month. After dropping consecutive road tilts to unranked opponents, the Jayhawks opened Big 12 play with a backbreaking defeat to West Virginia.
Not only did it mark the first time a Bill Self-led KU team started its slate of league games with a loss — the outing confirmed the Jayhawks had numerous problems to fix. It was one of the most pitiful showings in recent Jayhawk history.
As a result, people tampered expectations for the squad heading into a matchup in Orlando against UCF, but Coach Self’s group bounced back in a massive way. They blew the Knights out 99-48. During a segment of the Field of 68 podcast on Sunday, college basketball analysts Rob Dauster and Terrence Oglesby described how surprised they were with the outcome (at the 37:45 mark):
FIELD OF 68 AFTER DARK! Join @RobDauster, @T_Oglesby22 and @THANS50 as they react to the weekend's action! | PRESENTED BY @BetMGM https://t.co/XL8VGR52QA
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) January 5, 2025
Rob Dauster was stunned by how well Kansas played against UCF
"The biggest road win in the history of the Big 12 Conference. They won by 51 on the road. And this is a Kansas team — I was perfectly ready, I'm not going to lie — I thought they were going to lose this game. I thought they were going to go into UCF and get beat the way Texas A&M got beat. Then I was ready to come on to this exact show and say, 'I'm out. I've sold all my Kansas stock.'"Rob Dauster
Jayhawk fans and college basketball supporters around the country can certainly share Dauster’s sentiment. While Kansas had shown glimpses of its potential, the team proved on multiple occasions that it still had many issues to fix. Nobody could have predicted the slaughtering KU put on the Knights.
Kansas didn't just give UCF a good old-fashioned beatdown. The Jayhawks ran them out of their own arena. Johnny Dawkins' squad connected on 14 field goal attempts, yet KU blocked 12 shots, with an astounding six from rising star freshman Flory Bidunga. Quite frankly, it was one of the most dominant and convincing wins between two Power 6 schools in NCAA history.
Kansas basketball’s next opportunity to take the Big 12 and Dauster by surprise will come at home against Arizona State on Wednesday. The Jayhawks hope to put up a better performance in front of the Allen Fieldhouse crowd one week after being embarrassed by West Virginia.