KU Basketball Falls Short of Final Four Appearance in NCAA Tournament

KU basketball guard Josh Jackson (11), guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (10), and guard Devonte' Graham (4) react during the second half against the Oregon Ducks in the finals of the Midwest Regional of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Sprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports /

KU basketball will be watching the final two rounds of the NCAA Tournament from Lawrence, as they were knocked out of the tournament by the third-seeded Oregon Ducks by a score of 74-60.

Well, sorry Jayhawk fans. I jinxed the team when I wrote earlier this weekend that this was definitely KU’s year to bring home their first title since 2008. You can blame me or you can blame the cold offensive effort throughout this game.

The Jayhawks trailed by 11 at the half, which was their biggest deficit at half-time throughout the entire regular season and the tournament. The Ducks knew how to stop Josh Jackson, who was held scoreless in the first half. That was a huge factor in their victory.

What Oregon did was impressive. They marched into the Sprint Center, which was practically a home game for the Kansas Jayhawks, and took down the number one seeded team and did so handily.

In what ended up being Frank Mason’s last game, the senior continued to impress, putting up 21 points on the evening. Josh Jackson, who as I mentioned earlier was held scoreless in the first half, ended the night with ten points and Svi Mykhaliuk had ten as well.

Oregon saw four of their five starters put up double digit points with Tyler Dorsey being an absolute beast with 27. Dorsey also was six-of-ten on three-point shots, which eventually ended up dooming Kansas in the end.

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KU couldn’t hit their free throws either, only hitting 20% of them. They had struggled with that all season long and many thought that might eventually be their downfall.

With their defensive struggles and lack of free throw shooting ability, and hell… Lack of offensive ability throughout (they only shot 35% of their field goals)… led to the demise of the Jayhawks from yet another tournament.

This now marks the fifth straight season in which the Jayhawks have missed out on the National Championship Game. It seemed all too certain that KU basketball would be punching their ticket to the big game this year, as a lot of the big dogs in the tournament were being taken down, and it didn’t look like anyone could slow down the Jayhawks after their demolishing of the Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday.

At the end of the day, yes, this loss sucks for KU basketball fans. It’s another year without a National Championship and that stings for any fan of the Jayhawks.

What’s your reaction to the Kansas Jayhawks’ loss in the tournament on Saturday?

*ALL STATS COURTESY OF ESPN.COM, WHICH IS LINKED ABOVE ON FRANK MASON’S POINTS*

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