Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self plans on making some changes in response to a three-game losing streak that has dropped the Jayhawks to .500 in Big 12 Conference play after eight games.
“I don’t think it’s broken. I do think it needs some repairing,” Self said after the No. 9-ranked Jayhawks’ 75-68 loss to unranked Oklahoma on Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.
The loss was the fourth in six games for KU, which fell to 10-5 overall and 4-4 in the league.
“I think we need a boost of energy. We may need to shake things up a little bit lineup wise,” Self added.
The Jayhawks, who lost three straight games just two other times in the Self era (2012-13, 2004-05) — they’ve never dropped four in a row under Self — could have an entirely different starting lineup in their next game — Thursday’s 7 p.m. tipoff against TCU.
“I think it’s time to go back to practice to determine who plays,” Self said after a game the Jayhawks led by one point with nine minutes left and trailed by just three at the final TV timeout.
“You go into a season you want there to be five starters and want there to be a little separation between starters and the bench. It’s been too inconsistent of late. We need something to stir it up, try something different. I don’t know what it’ll be yet. Maybe it depends on how we practice, who performs best the next week before we play TCU. We definitely need to stir it up, get our mojo back, play with energy.”
The Jayhawks, whose three consecutive losses all have been on the road, were led Saturday by Marcus Garrett, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds. He also had three turnovers in 37 minutes.
“Fortunately we had him today. If we didn’t this could have been ugly,” Self said.
KU’s only other double-digit scorers were Jalen Wilson (13 points) and Ochai Agbaji (10). Garrett said there was some soul-searching in the locker room after the game.
“Basically we have to come together. Something has to change,” Garrett said. “Things definitely are not going how we expected it, but something has to change. I just know we have to get it together. I feel confident we’ll get it together. We have the best coach and he’s going to make sure we’re ready for the next game.”
Self told the Jayhawks, who were burned by guards De’Vion Harmon (22 points), Austin Reaves (16) and Umoja Gibson (10) that the season will have a different tone from this point on.
“I told our guys after the game the storybook season is done.," Self said. "The storybook season as far as winning all the games, being a 1 or 2 seed, that’s probably done. What we have to create is a storybook ending. That’s still in play.
“We’re going through the same things all other teams in America go through at some point in time. We are 4-4 in the league. We’ve played a heck of a schedule. It’s not lost by any stretch as far as us having a great season. The storybook part of that season will not play out the way teams hope it does.
“Now we have to make sure we get good enough that we can put ourselves in position to have a storybook ending. I think that would be more important anyway. That’s where we’re at. That’s what I’m going to try to emphasize. I believe we’ll get better. Hopefully we’ll put ourselves in position to do that.”
He said the difference in Saturday’s game was on the defensive end. “We didn’t run great offense over a 40-minute period (but) the game came down can you guard your man? We showed time and time again they beat us going off one on one. That was the difference the second half. We just didn’t guard our man.”
The Jayhawks led by as many as six (16-10) and trailed by as many as eight (24-16) Saturday.
Next up is TCU, which fell to KU, 93-64, on Jan. 5 in Fort Worth, Texas. The Horned Frogs have had two straight games postponed because of COVID-19 protocols. The KU-TCU game was originally set for Tuesday.
