Thanks Jeff Long!
Well, it finally happened. Jeff Long said screw what the fans and donors want and scheduled a bunch of games against Missouri. The (many) naysayers claimed it made no sense. The football team would was be wasting a non-con game and get smoked, while the basketball team would bear all the pressure and get nothing out of winning, while Missouri would face no consequences for losing and, if they could find a way to win, they’d reap rewards that just aren’t there for the Jayhawks.
Well, today, Missouri won and that’s exactly what’s happened.
Missouri gets what will be their biggest win of the year while everyone else wonders how Kansas could look so bad against a team as mediocre as Mizzou. I’m not fully recapping how this game played out, because no one wants to relive this game. Missouri was the aggressor of of the gate and looked like the more physical, athletic team while they built a lead. That lead got up over 20 points in the 2nd half before Kansas actually started to make a few shots and climbed all the way back to within a possession, only for Missouri to get some separation and hold on to their lead in the end.
Dickinson put up good numbers with 19 points, 14 boards, and four blocks. He was also the main contributor to KU’s sudden turnover problem, contributing a massive SEVEN turnovers to the team total of 22. Diggy Coit was arguably the real top performer in this one, coming off the bench to score 14 while going 4-7 from three. Once again, Dajuan Harris took far too many shots and went 5-14 overall and 1-5 from deep. That’s two straight games where the offense has stalled out and led to the worst offensive player in KU’s rotation trying to play hero ball.
There are other things to complain about, but I’ll leave it there. Kansas has looked awful in their first two road games, which is a big concern headed into the gauntlet that is Big 12 play. They fall to 7-2 on the season and have almost a full week to prepare for their next game against NC State on Saturday the 14th. They don’t have another road game until January 5th when they play at UCF, so maybe Self can figure some things out by then.
What are your thoughts on the game and the state of the team in general?