photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas forward Perry Ellis is fouled on a dunk attempt in the Jayhawks' 78-65 loss to Wichita State Sunday, March 22, 2015 at the CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Neb.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas forward Perry Ellis is fouled on a dunk attempt in the Jayhawks' 78-65 loss to Wichita State Sunday, March 22, 2015 at the CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Neb.

If you really think about it, Sunday’s 78-65 loss to Wichita State was probably about as fitting of an end for this Kansas team as anything.

The problems that plagued the Jayhawks all year were the same ones that showed up against the Shockers — no mental edge, a lack of a leader, struggles scoring on offense and stopping the drive on defense.

I picked Kansas to win because the Jayhawks looked so sharp on Friday — and also because Wichita State labored a little to beat Indiana — but, if you’ve been following along here all year, the unceremonious ending to an up-and-down season was probably one you saw coming.

Wichita State’s veterans outplayed the Jayhawks in just about every way and even the KU players said after the game in the locker room that they thought the Shockers wanted it more. That’s a tough pill for any team to swallow and was the most obvious reason why the Jayhawks’ season ended in the Round of 32 for the second year in a row.

Quick takeaway

As you’ve heard KU coach Bill Self say time and time again, the Jayhawks had a good season but fell short of making it a season to remember by falling flat in the NCAA Tournament. Since making that memorable run to the 2012 NCAA title game, the Jayhawks are just 4-3 in the past three NCAA Tournaments and have had more rough moments in those seven games than positive ones. Everyone knows that the tournament is a crap shoot and can be cruel to even the most talented and accomplished teams, but the Jayhawks lack of experience, leadership and a couple of badly time breaks — Perry Ellis’ injury, Cliff Alexander’s ineligibility, etc. — proved to be too much for that kind of roster to overcome and KU, though able to recall fond memories of Big 12 title No. 11 in a row, begins its inevitable countdown to Late Night in October.

Three reasons to smile

1 – You can’t help but love the way Devonte’ Graham finished his initial season at Kansas. Like Conner Frankamp a season ago, Graham played two of his better games of the season in the NCAA Tournament and was the Jayhawks’ best player on Sunday. He was one of the few guys who showed a sense of urgency and competitiveness and his stats matched. He finished with 17 points, 5 steals, 3 assists and 1 turnover.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas guard Devonté Graham (4) is fouled after getting a steal on Wichita State center Tom Wamukota (21) in the Jayhawks' third-round NCAA Tournament game against Wichita State Sunday, March 22, 2015 at the CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Neb.

2 – For the first 15 minutes of the game, the Jayhawks had the Shockers right where they wanted them. KU was clicking on offense, controlled the glass on the defensive end and did what this team had become known to do — made the opponent play bad. But KU’s offense began to struggle and KU’s chance to take control disappeared.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas forward Perry Ellis (34) positions himself for a rebound against Wichita State center Tom Wamukota, left and Ron Baker, left, in the first-half of the Jayhawks' third-round NCAA Tournament game against Wichita State Sunday, March 22, 2015.

3 – Give Perry Ellis credit for playing through both the knee injury that gave him trouble the past few weeks and a nasty shot to the face midway through the first half that drew blood and briefly sent Ellis to the locker room. Ellis wasn’t his normal spectacular self and former teammate Evan Wessel canceled out most of Ellis’ advantage in the match-up with a fantastic game, but no one can question Ellis’ toughness after a game like that. Even on a day when he didn’t look his best, the KU junior led the team in scoring and added eight boards and 10 trips to the free throw line.

Three reasons to sigh

1 – Like Andrew Wiggins against Stanford a season ago, KU sophomore Wayne Selden did next to nothing on the stat sheet in the final game of the season. No points. One rebound. One foul. Two turnovers. And one steal in 23 minutes. Tough way to end a tough season. It’s going to be very interesting to see where Selden takes his game from here.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Kansas guard Wayne Selden Jr. (1) runs into Wichita State guard Ron Baker (31) in the Jayhawks third-round 78-65 loss NCAA Tournament game against Wichita State Sunday, March 22, 2015 at the CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Neb.

2 – Wichita State’s 13-2 run to close the first half was clearly not the way KU had hoped to end the half, but it only put the Jayhawks behind by three points. Several Jayhawks said in the locker room after the game that they still believed they would win and were fine during the break. That certainly appeared to be the case when Frank Mason opened the second half with an easy layup that cut the WSU lead to one. From there, however, KU folded and folded quickly. As soon as the Shockers hit KU back and built a four, six and seven point lead, KU looked shell-shocked and never really got back into it. The same team that looked — and played — loose in an impressive opening-round victory all of a sudden tightened up again and that led to another early exit.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Kansas Assistant coach Jerrance Howard gives a rub to Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) after Mason fouled out in the Jayhawks' third-round NCAA Tournament game against Wichita State Sunday, March 22, 2015 at the CenturyLink Center, in Omaha, Neb.

3 – I still don’t understand why Hunter Mickelson didn’t get more of a shot. Every time he played during the past couple of weeks, he delivered positive things. He’s not a 20-plus minutes a game guy and he’s not going to single-handedly win KU a game, but in a contest when the Shockers scored 49 second-half points and had no problem getting to the rim during that stint, it would’ve been interesting to see what Mickelson, an accomplished shot blocker, could have done to impact the game. That’s especially true given KU’s foul trouble.

One for the road

KU’s season-ending loss to Wichita State:

• Dropped the Jayhawks to 27-9.

• Made Kansas 21-10 in second games played in the NCAA Tournament, including an 7-3 record in the round of 32 for head coach Bill Self.

• Snapped the Jayhawks’ win streak against the Shockers at five games, narrowing the advantage in the all-time series with Wichita State to 12-3.

• Made Kansas 97-43 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

• Marked KU’s first NCAA Tournament loss in Omaha. Including games played in the 2008 and 2012 NCAA Tournaments, KU is now 5-1 in the city.

• Made Self 352-78 while at Kansas, 37-16 in the NCAA Tournament and 559-183 overall.

• Made KU 2,153-829 all-time.

Next up

For the second year in a row, the Jayhawks bow out of the tournament without advancing past the first weekend. KU finishes the season 27-9 and, as is the case just about every year no matter when the season ends, will head into the offseason wondering who will leave, who will be back and how Bill Self will reload.

By the Numbers: Wichita State knocks out Kansas