Kansas men's basketball head coach Bill Self did not sugarcoat his words after his team’s 86-75 loss at West Virginia on Saturday, saying the Jayhawks must rediscover the toughness that defined his best teams in Lawrence.
“We suck right now,” Self said bluntly. “The last three games we haven’t played well. We’ve got to flip it.”
Kansas led by eight early in the second half before West Virginia rattled off a decisive 16-0 run, turning control of the game and exposing what Self described as a lack of physical and mental edge.
“They were tougher,” Self said. “They backed our guards down in the post and we didn’t give much resistance at all. We never stopped them the whole night. We never made them play poorly.”
Self pointed to the defense and a failure to finish possessions as the turning point. While Kansas scored enough to stay competitive early, it could not string together stops once the Mountaineers grabbed the momentum.
“It wasn’t our offense until the game flipped,” Self said. “It was the fact that we didn’t get consistent stops on the other end and finish possessions. That’s a credit to them.”
The longtime coach said the responsibility falls on both players and staff to instill the identity Kansas needs to survive the grind of Big 12 Conference play.
“If anything said now sounds like I’m placing blame on players, I’m not,” Self said. “I’m placing fault with all of us. We haven’t consistently got everybody to understand that your value to our program is being a junkyard dog more than it is being a skilled player.”
Self said Kansas’ best teams were not always dominant offensively, but they consistently made life difficult for opponents.
“Our best teams here weren’t great all the time,” Self said. “But we never let anybody else play well.”
Kansas has now dropped two straight conference road games. With a tough stretch ahead, including home games against Iowa State and Baylor this week, Self said the Jayhawks must quickly rediscover their edge.
“We need to grind,” Self said. “We haven’t been able to do that yet. I say yet because I think we’re capable of getting there. But we’re not there yet.”