LAWRENCE — Kansas men’s basketball had been in this position before, down double digits in the second half, just a week earlier.
That game was Jan. 22, on the road against in-state rival Kansas State. This game was Saturday, at home against blue-blood rival Kentucky. And while those Big 12 Conference Wildcats didn’t exactly pose the same challenge then as these Southeastern Conference Wildcats did, one could understand what went through the minds of Kansas guards Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun when they cut their deficit to 14 points with about 13 minutes left.
Like against Kansas State, Agbaji felt as if his team had found the spark it needed to mount a comeback against Kentucky. Like against Kansas State, Braun felt as if everyone on his team believed they had a chance against Kentucky. But instead of continuing to chip away at the deficit against Kentucky, that’s as close as the Jayhawks would get.
►RELATED: Kansas men’s basketball loses at home against Kentucky in Big 12/SEC Challenge
In a Big 12/SEC Challenge game that brought national attention, Kansas suffered its first loss inside Allen Fieldhouse this season. Head coach Bill Self and company lost by their largest deficit this season. And now, the Jayhawks must figure out a way to respond and keep their season on track after an 80-62 defeat.
“Go back to the drawing board, watch film, prepare for Iowa State Tuesday,” said Agbaji, a senior. “That’s all we can do.”
Braun, a junior, added: “Yeah, you’ve got to learn from this. Like (Agbaji) said, move on. We’ve still got conference play in front of us. We’ve still got all the goals that we wanted are still available for us to win. But, yeah, we’ve got to learn from this.”
►RELATED: Why Bill Self was happy to see 3 Kansas basketball signees named McDonald’s All-Americans
Neither Agbaji nor Braun used the grind of the last couple games Kansas (17-3, 6-1 in Big 12) played as an excuse. Agbaji pointed to the hype surrounding this game ahead of the opening tip. Braun pointed to the atmosphere being one of the best he’s experienced during his career with the Jayhawks.
Kentucky (17-4, 6-2 in SEC) beat Kansas with junior forwards Oscar Tshiebwe and Keion Brooks Jr. leading the charge. Tshiebwe went for 17 points and 14 rebounds, exhibiting a presence inside on both ends of the floor. Brooks went for 27 points and eight rebounds, beating the Jayhawks with mid-range jumpers that Braun said Kansas wanted him to take but just left too open.
Add on Agbaji struggling to get going in the way he had offensively in recent games, finishing with 13 points and a 4-for-14 clip from the field, and the issues are going to start to add up for the Jayhawks. The Jayhawks were outscored 17-6 in second-chance points and were far less effective shooting the ball from the field.
“You want to win every game,” Braun said. “So we came into this game, we were confident. We thought we were prepared. We were going to play hard, and like I said they punched us in the mouth first. So, it wasn’t anything disappointing by anybody on the team or anything like that. You go into every game wanting to get a win, but there’s more important ones ahead, for sure.”
Self acknowledged the way this game went could affect Kansas’ immediate future. The same way Kentucky could have momentum moving forward, his squad could be trending the other direction. But Self said that would only happen if certain things aren’t corrected soon.
The next three games see Kansas face Iowa State on the road, Baylor at home and Texas on the road.
“We’ve been living on the razor’s edge the last couple of weeks,” Self said, “and I don’t want to say it caught up to us tonight, but a much better team tonight put it on us pretty good.”
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: How will Kansas basketball respond after being crushed by Kentucky?