No. 6 Jayhawks Fall to No. 25 Red Raiders, 75-67, What Did We Learn?

The Kansas Jayhawks were coming off of a hard-fought 74-63 road win against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. The next game would be another road challenge as Kansas would head to Lubbock, Texas, and square off against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

KU could not withstand the Red Raiders and would fall, 75-67. This would snap an eight-game winning streak for Kansas and is their first loss in the Big 12 this season. According to Michael Swain, Bill Self talked about what he saw from his team in the loss to Texas Tech,

"“I thought we were poor right from the jump. I don’t think we played as competitive as they did for 40 minutes, even though we had some good possessions. Our only times we ever stopped them are when we went to a crappy zone and they went about six or seven possessions in a row without scoring. But after that, they kind of figured that out. So I didn’t think we competed very hard. It’s a situation I’d like to go in a game, and I think our players would like to going into a game, kind of what we’re going to get going into a game. Because we don’t know if we’re going to guard a ball screen. We don’t know if we can do certain things that have hurt us. They threw the ball to the short little guy three times in the first half and let them catch it and played behind them. There just wasn’t much good going on today. We were fortunate that it was a four point game when Dajuan got fouled on the sideline. I’m not saying we would have won the game, but that certainly made a big difference. Four went to six or seven and the game was over. Just not very good at all. We obviously didn’t have them prepared to go against a team that really really tried hard.”"

Even with the Loss, the Jayhawks Had Some Standout Players

The Jayhawks still had a key performance from senior Ochai Agbaji. Agbaji posted a game-high 24 points and a game-high 35 minutes. He also added four rebounds, two assists, and was 4-out-of-4 from the free-throw line. Agabji knocked down a career-high six three-pointers giving him a total of 1,207 points, tying him on the all-time Kansas scoring list with Jacque Vaugh at 38th.

Agbaji continues to climb up the leaderboards and solidify himself in Kansas basketball history. He started his 91st consecutive game, which places him ninth on the all-time consecutive start list at KU. By knocking down his career-high six three-point field goals, he moves into the top ten at Kansas, sitting at No. 9. Agbaji passes one of the most memorable players in KU history, Frank Mason III.

Redshirt sophomore Jalen Wilson also played a phenomenal game. Wilson posted a season-high 20 points, shooting 6-out-of-8 from the floor, and 3-out-of-5 from the 3-point line. He added two rebounds and a career-high three steals, but unfortunately, this would succumb to a loss.

The Kansas Jayhawks Were Careless with the Basketball

The Jayhawks yet again were careless with the basketball. KU would turn the ball over 17 times and the Red Raiders would score 21 points off those turnovers. According to Michael Swain, Bill Self talked about the turnovers,

"“I’d say it’s primarily carelessness. I haven’t really studied it, but Jaylen had four. CB didn’t play well at all in the first half. He had three. And Ochai had a rough game even though he scored points. But defensively he had a really rough game. So I don’t know exactly what it was. So much of it was carelessness. But how many charges did they take? Five or six or so? So you know that is carelessness. That’s just not playing very smart and not paying attention to the scouting report.”"

What Is Next for the Kansas Jayhawks?

Kansas will welcome the Iowa State Cyclones inside Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday, January 11th. The game will tip-off at 7:00 P.M. CST and aired on the Big 12 Now/ESPN+.