When Kansas head coach Bill Self was ruled out of Tuesday night's matchup against the Colorado Buffaloes, it wasn’t quite a complete shift of momentum away from the Jayhawks; however, with Kansas’ 0-2 mark in conference play heading into a late tip, anything was possible.
Strong defense and balanced scoring would end up leading the way in Kansas’ 75-69 win over the Buffs that pushed the No. 19 side to a 13-5 record with a 4-2 Big 12 mark, in Jacque Vaughn's head coaching debut.
It wasn’t Darryn Peterson’s best night…and that's okay
The former five-star guard finished the night with 16 points on 15 shots, which is a far cry from his normal splits. Earlier this season (assuming Peterson was healthy enough to play) if Peterson was on the court and not hitting his shots, the rest of the team were left relying on the freshman through thick and thin, which played a role in Kansas’ 1-2 start in the Big 12 where Peterson shot a combined of 14-34 from the field in the two losses. On Tuesday, even though Peterson was not at his hottest, the team kept composed and finished with four total players who scored 10+ points (Tre White (17), Melvin Council Jr. (18), Flory Bidunga (11), and Peterson).
Too many turnovers
Heading into Tuesday, Kansas averaged 10.3 turnovers per game. Not a terrible mark by any means, however, how you turn the ball over sometimes matters more than the turnover numbers themselves.
Against Colorado, the Jayhawks gave up eight steals and 12 total turnovers. Oftentimes, it felt like Colorado was just a step ahead of Kansas and was consistently pushing the Jayhawks into corners they could not escape.
A greatly improved second-half defense
Yes, in the final couple minutes, Colorado was laboring to keep the game close, and if it wasn’t for a bizarre final few seconds when some unpredictable shots flew in, the Jayhawks would have likely cruised to a double-digit victory. During the second period, Kansas’ defense stifled Colorado’s three-point attack to just a 17.6% mark. In the first half, the Buffaloes shot a superb 42.9% from beyond the arc.
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