Kansas Basketball keys to avoid a falling into a slump against Texas Longhorns
On Saturday, Kansas Basketball was dealt a surprising defeat at the hands of the Iowa State Cyclones. Although the Cyclones enjoyed homecourt advantage and were ranked 13th in the nation heading into the game, no one expected the Jayhawks to lose the important inter-conference game as the end of the regular season begins to loom in every coaches’ mind. Iowa State Seniors Jaren Holmes and Osun Osunniyi led the way with 15 and 13 points respectively. Now it is up to the Jayhawks to bounce back at home and avoid a second consecutive inter-conference defeat.
The Jayhawks‘ next opponent is the Texas Longhorns, who are coming off of an impressive victory against the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday afternoon. Down by double digits in the first half, the Longhorns battled back to claw out a three-point victory on the road largely due to a balanced attack that led to five players scoring over ten points. After Monday’s win against the Baylor Bears, the Longhorns now have two consecutive victories over highly ranked rivals in the Big 12 Conference. The timing of their stellar stretch of play couldn’t be any more perfect.
The Kansas Jayhawks suffered a disappointing loss to Iowa State on Saturday. They must play better to avoid starting a losing streak on Monday night.
For the Kansas Jayhawks, the time to right the ship is now. The team has now lost four out of its last six games, including splitting a home and away series against their fiercest rival, the Kansas State Wildcats. Even after losing stellar guards Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun to the NBA draft, the Jayhawks were still expected to have a great shot at duplicating last year’s success and winning the NCAA Tournament. Although Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators were the last team to repeat as Champions, back in 2007, Kansas was deemed capable of achieving the rare feat by the preseason pundits.
If the Jayhawks are going to earn a high seed in the NCAA Tournament and make a run at returning to the Final Four, it will have to start with changing the narrative and emerging as the best team in the Big 12. Let’s take a closer look at how Kansas can avoid a second consecutive loss when they take on the Texas Longhorns on Monday night.