Kansas Basketball Loses Double Overtime Thriller To Houston: 3 Takeaways

In a battle of top 12 teams in the country, Kansas basketball’s late game blunders allowed Houston to pick up the big road win.

It was close throughout, with both teams going on big runs throughout the game, but ultimately, Houston came out on top 92-86 and handed Kansas their second home loss of the season. J’Wan Roberts led the way with 24 points for Houston, and Mylik Wilson added 18 points on 8-11 shooting. For Kansas, Flory Bidunga scored 19 points on 7-10 shooting for the Jayhawks but fouled out in the second overtime. Hunter Dickinson, Rylan Griffen, and Zeke Mayo added 17, 17, and 16 points, respectively.

Houston remains undefeated in conference play with a clear path to the title ahead. Read below for three takeaways from today’s game.

Takeaway #1: Kansas’ late game issues a huge concern

With a minute and thirty-one seconds to go in regulation, Kansas led by six thanks to a Flory Bidunga dunk. Milos Uzan would hit a jumper, then Kansas turned it over. Again, Uzan hits a jumper to cut the lead to two. Instead of playing the foul game and trying to push this game to two possessions, Kansas turns it over and Houston capitalizes, scoring two free throws to tie it up. With a chance to win, Kansas turned over the ball again.

In overtime, similar story. Kansas led by 6 with 28 seconds to go after a Rylan Griffen three. Houston would miss, Kansas gets fouled, and Dajuan Harris has a chance to put his team up 8 with 17 seconds to go. He missed both, and Emanuel Sharp drained a three to cut it to three with seven seconds to go. Then, another steal off the inbounds, Mylik Wilson hit a three, and the game was over from there.

This starts at the top. As a coach, it is your job to make sure all your players know what to do in these situations, and the fact that it happened twice says a lot. Kansas hasn’t been in many situations like this all season, so this can be taken as a growing lesson, but games like this go a long way in March. Self needs to make sure his team is ready for this long term because this won’t be the last time it happens.

Takeaway #2: Free throws are a big problem for both teams

This game, in truth, shouldn’t have even gone to overtime, or double, but the free throw shooting from both sides didn’t allow them to pull away, and that led to this result. Kansas shot 17-30 from the line (56.7%), but 6-14 in the overtime periods. Houston wasn’t any better, shooting 14-25 (56%) from the line themselves, but 4-13 (30.8%) in the second half. When Houston used their dominant defensive run to start the second half and pull ahead, the reason why they didn’t pull away was the fact they were 0-8 from the line.

Then, in overtime, we discussed how Dajuan Harris had a chance to put Kansas up 8 with seconds to go, but he missed both and allowed Houston to send it into another overtime.

Both teams are pretty middle of the pack when it comes to free throw shooting, with Kansas 126th at 73.7% and  Houston at 129th with a 73.6% free throw percentage. Both teams could have won this game with ease if they made their free throws, and there’s no doubt that there will be an emphasis for both teams in this week’s practices.

Takeaway #3: Rylan Griffen’s big game canceled out by AJ Storr’s dud

You’ve seen it being said all year long, Kansas’ ceiling is determined by Griffen and Storr’s play. If both excel, this team is championship caliber, but if both struggle, then that ceiling drops significantly. On Wednesday, AJ Storr had his best game of the season, second 12 points on 6-10 shooting to go with 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Griffen meanwhile shot 1-6 from the field and finished with just four points.

Today, that was flipped, with Griffen posting a season-high 17 points on 5-7 shooting, and most importantly 5-6 from three. He was huge in the overtime period, scoring 8 points which included the three that should have won Kansas that game. Meanwhile, AJ Storr finished with zero points in 18 minutes, shooting 0-6 from the field and 0-3 from three. When they subbed him in for Flory, it looked like an opportunity for him to step up, but he did just the opposite.

We know the potential is there, but it hasn’t shown, and the later in the season it gets, the more hope is lost. In games where Zeke Mayo struggles, which he doesn’t do often but did tonight, they need guys to step up, and Rylan did tonight, but they really needed another option to do so, and Storr couldn’t do that. It’ll be interesting to see how Self handles both of their minutes moving forward, especially once KJ Adams returns to the lineup.

Up next for Kansas basketball (14-5, 5-3): vs. UCF (13-6, 4-4) – Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. EST

Up next for Houston basketball (16-3, 8-0): at West Virginia (13-6, 4-4) – Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. EST