Kansas took a 67-64 lead with 4:55 to play after trailing by 11 early in the second half in its Round of 64 game against Arkansas. The Jayhawks looked to be closing in on a major comeback win to keep their season alive. However, the final five minutes looked much like a common theme in Kansas losses this season– a failure to execute late in clutch situations.
The Jayhawks turned the ball over five times in the final four minutes and made just one shot, a three from Rylan Griffen to put Kansas down three with 13 seconds to play. Arkansas closed the game on a 15-5 run to end Kansas’ season.
“How many times did we have guys open and we couldn’t pass it over their length?” Self said to the media postgame. “I actually think the last three turnovers we had were all unforced. We just threw it to them and so that was frustrating.”
Momentum started to flip after Hunter Dickinson threw a pass into the open court that was picked off by Boogie Fland for a transition layup. Kansas turned it over on the two ensuing possessions, allowing Arkansas to take a four-point lead.
“Just basketball mistakes obviously they were made by multiple people including myself,” Zeke Mayo said in the locker room. “That’s just something that we’ve got to execute down the stretch, especially with us being seniors, older leaders. We’ve got to understand the time and situation and take care of the basketball.”
Yet, Kansas still had an opportunity to tie or win the game. The Jayhawks had the ball down two with under a minute left, but Dajuan Harris couldn’t execute a post-entry pass to Hunter Dickinson that allowed the Razorbacks to ice the game. Dickinson only took four shots in the second half and went scoreless and said that he felt like he let the team down.
“I wasn’t there for my team when they needed me,” Dickinson said. “I didn’t show up when they needed me in the second half.”
The collapse in the Round of 64 was the latest in a string of poorly executed endings throughout the season. Last week, Kansas was eliminated from the Big 12 Tournament after being outscored 18-8 over the final stretch.
Against Texas Tech, Kansas tied the game with 1:47 left but did not score for the rest of the game. The Jayhawks, who were up at halftime, allowed 60 points in the second half to lose to Baylor. Kansas collapsed multiple times down the stretch to lose in double overtime against Houston in Allen Fieldhouse.
“The Houston loss might have deflated us a bit,” Rylan Griffen said. “I feel like we never really fully recovered after that loss at home to Houston. And then we crumbed against Baylor too, it’s just stuff like that. If you look at those two games [differently], we probably have a whole different season.”
Griffen said you can’t blame the season on those two games because Kansas still had chances to figure things out. He said the Jayhawks’ result in the tournament was a result of who they’ve been throughout the season.
“You can’t blame it on just those two games. We still had chances to play good,” Griffen said. “This is the price you get when you get one of the lower seeds. You play against a good team in the first round… We did it to ourselves, but I still feel like we’re the better team we just didn’t close it out.”
In short, Kansas’ season-ending loss was the perfect example of who it was throughout the season. The Jayhawks showcased high-level basketball at times, but their inability to execute in crunch time severely hampered their ceiling.
