The No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks are still fresh off a shocking 70-60 loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils, but there is little time to lick their wounds, as on Saturday, the Jayhawks will be taking on their biggest rivals, the Kansas State Wildcats.
As the season has worn on, Kansas has seen several peaks and valleys, but a 2-4 stretch of the last six games has rightly raised questions over just how far this team can go in March and into April.
What will stop KU from making late runs?
Kansas’ offense has been up and down all season. So the fact that they have only notched 70+ points once during that stretch is unfortunately not surprising. What is surprising is the number of points Kansas has given up.
Over the last six games, the Jayhawks have given up 74, 69, 84, 56, 84, and 70 points.
When you pair that with an offense that has combined for an average 39% from the field, you can get the recipe for why Kansas has struggled to win as of late.
It is worth noting that Kansas has faced teams ranked No. 5 — twice — and No. 2 teams in the nation, yet the Jayhawks also faced an unranked Oklahoma State, an unranked Cincinnati, and an unranked Arizona State. Two of those matchups were losses.
ESPN calls Kansas a ‘near miss’
Earlier this week, Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf broke down every team that could “technically” come out on top of March Madness, and while 339 of them were completely disregarded, the 24 left were either classed as “near misses” or as teams that could win it all.
Kansas was selected as a member of the near-miss community, and it is not hard to see why.
Barring the stats mentioned above, KU simply does not know what its peak is yet. Sure, this team could go on a streak and propel itself into Elite 8, Final Four contention.
In the same breath, you see a 5-6 away record and all of a sudden, an earlier exit looks more and more plausible.
Kansas will host the Wildcats this Saturday at 1 p.m. CT with streaming available on CBS.
Make sure to bookmark Through the Phog and follow us on X and Facebook with the username @Throughthephog