Kansas Falls to UConn, but Bill Self Sees the Bigger Picture
Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse had all the makings of a classic - two blue-blood programs, a raucous home crowd, and a top-five opponent in the house. But when the final buzzer sounded, Kansas walked off the court with a 61-56 loss to No. 5 Connecticut - a game that exposed some glaring issues but also gave head coach Bill Self plenty to work with moving forward.
Let’s start with the numbers that jump off the page. After a solid start - 12-of-23 from the field - the Jayhawks went ice cold, missing 28 of their final 34 shots.
That’s not just a cold stretch; that’s an offensive freeze. And it wasn’t just about missed shots.
Kansas struggled to get into its sets, turned the ball over unnecessarily, and too often defaulted to isolation basketball instead of moving the ball and creating rhythm.
Self didn’t sugarcoat it postgame. He called out the “bad offense,” the unforced errors, and the lack of flow.
Plays were called but never executed. The ball stuck.
The team went one-on-one instead of playing as a unit. And even when KU had a chance to tie the game in the final 25 seconds, they couldn’t capitalize.
But if you’re expecting Self to be fuming, you’d be surprised. This wasn’t a loss that left him seething.
Frustrated? Sure.
But he’s also choosing to take the long view - something that hasn’t always been in his coaching DNA.
Because there’s context here. Kansas is still waiting on the return of freshman phenom Darryn Peterson, who missed his seventh straight game with a hamstring injury.
Self says he’s close, and there’s hope he’ll be back for Sunday’s rivalry clash with Missouri. But until he’s back on the floor, KU is still figuring out who it is without him - and that’s no small thing when you’re talking about a potential game-changing talent.
And then there’s the reality of this roster. Only one player - Fiory Bidunga - returns from last year’s nine-man rotation. This is still a team learning how to play together, how to communicate, and how to handle the pressure of big-time matchups like this one.
Self pointed to the atmosphere at Allen Fieldhouse - electric as always - as something that may have actually worked against his team. The energy was there.
The effort was there. But the focus and execution?
Not so much.
“You’ve got to be at that magic level where your energy and your enthusiasm and concentration and attention to details is all at a crossroads,” Self said. On Tuesday, those lines never quite met.
That said, Self isn’t throwing in the towel. Far from it.
He sees a team that can defend - a non-negotiable for any Kansas team with championship aspirations. He’s seen them rebound well in other games, even if that didn’t show up in the second half against UConn, where they were outboarded 25-10.
And he knows this group can share the ball and create good looks - they’ve done it before.
The key now is consistency. And growth.
This isn’t about moral victories. Self isn’t in the business of accepting losses.
But he is looking at this one as a step in the process - not a defining moment, but a teaching one. Because if this team is going to reach its potential, it has to learn from nights like this.
And make no mistake, the schedule isn’t doing Kansas any favors. Losses to North Carolina and Duke - both top-20 teams - are already on the resume.
But that’s by design. Self wants this group battle-tested.
He wants them to take their lumps now, so they’re ready when it really counts in March.
That approach comes with risk. But it also comes with belief - belief that this team, with all its youth and new faces, has the tools to become something special. Especially once Peterson returns and the rotation starts to solidify.
Of course, “correctable” doesn’t mean “corrected.” There’s still work to be done.
And when Peterson does come back, there will be another adjustment period. Roles will shift.
Chemistry will need to be reestablished. But that’s all part of the process.
This loss? It only becomes a problem if Kansas doesn’t learn from it.
If it becomes a pattern instead of a pivot point. But Self isn’t betting on that.
“We’ll be better because of it,” he said.
And if he’s right, Tuesday night might just be the kind of loss that helps shape a team built for the long haul.