No. 14 Kansas’ latest 90-82 win over the No. 13 BYU Cougars turned from what looked like a blowout into a gritty, narrow win where the Jayhawks were outscored on a 49-37 pace in the second period.
Through the first half, the Jayhawks were free-flowing and hitting shots with ease, as Kansas marked three double-digit scorers: Darryn Peterson (18), Tre White (10), and Bryson Tiller, who also finished the first half with 10 points.
To make things better, the Jayhawks notched a superb 9-12 three-point mark, all while stifling the BYU offense and holding them to just 33 points on a 14-33 rate from the field.
A tale of two halves
While Kansas marched to a dominant 53-33 halftime lead, things slowly began to fade away as the second half wore on. For one, Peterson, who had a stronghold in the first-half proceedings, didn’t see the court for the final 16:46 of the game.
The Jayhawks’ three-point rate also plummeted to just 20% in the second half. But maybe the one thing that Kansas really dropped off with was their movement around the court. Not to say the Jayhawks were sluggish, but lanes were much more easily clogged, wide-open shots were quickly closed down, the ball had less zip with most passes, and each one of the defects slowly chipped away at the once eye-opening lead.
It doesn’t help that BYU’s Richie Saunders exploded for 24 points on a 7-11 shooting mark in the second half alone, as he and AJ Dybantsa led the Cougars with 34 points in the final 20 minutes.
Now it is easy to think that we could be exaggerating just how much worse Kansas played in the second half, and that could be true, but it is worth noting that the lead was trimmed down to just four points with 1:27 to play, with the Jayhawks leading 82-78. And while BYU fell three points short of erasing a 19-point deficit against the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats, and came back from 22 points against the Clemson Tigers in December, it can never be spun as a positive to see a lead at home fall so quickly, even if it is against a team that seems to fight back.
Of course, some stats were going to see a drop off from the first to the second half. It is a hard ask to request KU to replicate another nine three-pointers in 12 attempts. The Jayhawks were also going to massively struggle to get another 53 points on the board as well, but most aren’t asking for that, and to see BYU bring the lead down so much is a worrying marker for how this team can get back to its consistent pace, with or without Peterson on the court.
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