Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self is ‘less discouraged’ after loss vs. Baylor

The Kansas men’s basketball team lost to Baylor on Saturday, but there was a different feel around the postgame presser with Jayhawks coach Bill Self.

Self wasn’t frustrated like he usually is after many of KU’s road losses this season. Instead, he was relatively positive.

“I actually thought we did some good things,” Self said. “The thing about it is with people, in general, we are all guilty of this — whether it be right or wrong. We only focus on the end result as opposed to the actions and everything that goes into it. (Like) putting yourself in a position to have success.”

Self explained what went wrong for the Jayhawks, including Baylor’s RayJ Davis hitting a few floaters late.

“Ten-foot runners are not exactly the easiest shots to shoot,” Self said. “They made some plays and we didn’t answer with those same plays, but I actually thought it was a pretty well-played game. I didn’t think that our defense the second half was near as good as the first half, but I’m leaving out of here not encouraged but less discouraged than what I’ve probably been some of our other losses.”

For Kansas, the loss was primarily due to a four-minute stretch where the Bears went on a 13-2 run in the second half. Self alluded to it as why the game went Baylor’s way after being relatively even much of the game.

On top of that, KU’s defense left a lot to be desired — the Bears shot a blistering 55.2% from the field.

Kansas guard Dajuan Harris knows KU’s defense needs to step it up for its two remaining regular-season games.

“We just needed to get stops,” Harris said. “You can’t let them go on runs like that at their home court. They’re a very good team. So we just got to get better this week coming up before we play K-State, get better on our defense, keep that intensity up.”

For the Jayhawks, the game against Baylor provided a glimpse into the level of effort and consistency KU needs to reach its postseason aspirations. Kansas closed the lead to five points with minutes remaining, but it wasn’t enough.

“I thought we put ourself in a position where we put some game pressure on at least, but we had a makeshift lineup out there,” Self said. “The guys fought hard, they did a good job, Baylor was just better.”

Kansas will try to bounce back on senior night against K-State on Tuesday. Although the Jayhawks are mathematically eliminated from the Big 12 title race, Kansas’ goal hasn’t changed — it’s just the clock is ticking.

That’s what Self pointed out to his team after the game.

“We’ve got to learn from it,” Kansas guard Kevin McCullar said. “It’s March now. He told us, ‘There’s going to come a time and point now when its win or go home, so got to learn from it and definitely got to turn the page and get ready for these next two — handle things and get ready for the Big 12 Tournament and go from there.”