Kansas basketball dropped its third road game in four tries since league play commenced earlier this month, falling to Iowa State 79-75. The Jayhawks did not have their best defensive outing.
The Cyclones shot uncharacteristically well from beyond the arc yesterday. Their 14 threes made were the most made by the team in three seasons, and they knocked down 46.7% of their attempts. Because it was not your run-of-the-mill offensive performance, Kansas' coach thought his group played a solid game.
"I was actually encouraged. That's the best offense we've run in a while. You score 75 points against Iowa State in their building? It should be enough," Self told the media. "We did some good things. We didn't make shots, they out-scored us 21 points from beyond the arc. But I thought we hung in there and did some good things offensively."
"Defensively, we weren't any good," he continued. "But we rebounded the ball better in the second half. We did some good stuff. They were just better. And certainly, they made us pay. I don't know how many shots they made in the last five seconds of the shot clock but they made us pay there late."
While adding another loss to the record isn't what the Jayhawks were hoping for, Iowa State players like Tre King and Curtis Jones kept sinking threes despite being low-percentage shooters. King, who came into the game with three made 3-pointers all year on 18.8% shooting, connected on 4-of-7 attempts.
Kansas basketball still has to clean up its mistakes, but last afternoon's loss was the first where the Jayhawks looked good. They almost made a late-game comeback before an Iowa State three buried them in the final minute. It will be an uphill battle to win the Big 12 with a 4-3 conference record, but there is still reason for hope within the program.