The Day After: No. 1 falls in the mountains of West Virginia

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas coach Bill Self and the Jayhawks bench watch the closing minutes of the Jayhawks 74-63 loss to the Mountaineers at the WVU Colliseum in Morgantown, W.V. Tuesday.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas coach Bill Self and the Jayhawks bench watch the closing minutes of the Jayhawks 74-63 loss to the Mountaineers at the WVU Colliseum in Morgantown, W.V. Tuesday.

Tuesday’s loss at West Virginia was as bad as just about any of the good moments that KU has enjoyed this season.

Remember how good Kansas looked in holding off Oklahoma in one of the most epic games in years a couple of weeks ago? Well, yeah. The Jayhawks looked at least that bad in getting blasted by West Virginia on Tuesday night in Morgantown.

It’s too bad the Mountaineers shot just 33 percent from the field because that helped keep the score down and, at least on paper, a 74-63 loss does not look all that bad. The way Kansas played in this one — or, perhaps more appropriately put, didn’t play — the Jayhawks certainly deserved to suffer a 20-point beatdown.

Who knows what exactly the reason behind that was, but there was just something off about this team from the beginning. And when you combine that vibe for the road team with the intensity of a Top-15 team looking to make a statement, you’re looking at a recipe for a one-sided contest.

That’s exactly what Tuesday was, but the good news about college basketball — as opposed to college football or even the NFL — is that the Jayhawks do not have to wait an entire week to get back on the floor. They’ll play again in just a few days and you can bet they’ll be learning a ton about themselves and their shortcomings in the days leading up to that.

After Tuesday, it’s obvious that this team still has plenty it can learn and plenty of areas to improve upon.

Quick takeaway

Teams are going to have off nights. And, as both Bill Self and Landen Lucas explained in the postgame, nobody expected the Jayhawks to go undefeated in Big 12 play this season. So it’s not the loss that’s alarming. What is a concern, however, is how it happened. KU was straight punked by a West Virginia team that looked like it didn’t just think but knew it was better than the Jayhawks and the Kansas players did nothing to change their minds. The team lacked energy, effort, intensity and even heart and common sense at times. It’s a long season. And Kansas no doubt will bounce back. But it’s possible that the performance at Texas Tech last weekend, which definitely was a strong and impressive response to the emotion of that OU game, got this team feeling itself a little too much.

Three reasons to smile

1 – Even though he was not immune to the crappy play that crippled his teammates, Perry Ellis actually was pretty solid. That’s when they could get him the ball. Ellis, who led the team with 21 points and 7 rebounds, showed, yet again, just how talented he is and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that if the Jayhawks need a bucket, he’s the guy they should — and likely would — go to first. Every time.

photo by: Mike Yoder

2 – Very few of them mattered — Wayne Selden hit a couple early and Devonte’ Graham drained a big one just before halftime — but you can’t blame this loss on KU’s struggle to shoot the ball. Despite finishing at just 41.7 percent for the game, the Jayhawks were 50 percent (10 of 20) from three-point range in this one. The problem with that was, excluding Ellis’ ability to score in close, the three-point shot was about the only thing Kansas did well offensively in an ugly, ugly game all the way around. Still, KU’s hottest three-point shooting team in years is showing no signs of cooling down.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas guard Wayne Selden Jr., shots in a three-point basket in the first half of a game between the Jayhawks and the Mountaineers at the WVU Colliseum in Morgantown, W.V. Tuesday.

3 – I mentioned this in the Keegan Ratings so bear with me if it seems repetitive, but I think Landen Lucas and Jamari Traylor both deserve a tip of the cap for at least looking as if they wanted to be there on Tuesday night. Forget their stats. Neither guy really did much in that department. But they played with passion and appeared to genuinely be bothered by the fact (and way) that their team was laying an egg. I’ve been critical of the basketball talents of both players during the past couple of seasons, but both guys deserve credit for showing up on a night when the rest of their team didn’t. If KU would’ve gotten that kind of heart from the rest of the lineup, the Jayhawks easily could’ve left Morgantown with a victory.

Three reasons to sigh

1 – For the life of me, I just can’t figure out how or even why KU showed up in West Virginia and looked completely unprepared to play. I’m not talking about coaching and game plan here. I’m talking about effort and energy and body language. It truly looked as if this was a team that wanted no part of being there. That baffles me. If I’m playing on the No. 1 team in the country and I’m a veteran who has been around college basketball three or four years, you can bet darn sure that I’m going to be fired up every night I get to play to prove that I’m worthy of that No. 1 ranking. The Jayhawks on Tuesday were neither fired up nor worthy of the ranking and they got what they deserved because of it.

photo by: Mike Yoder

West Virginia guard Jaysean Paige (5) celebrates a West Virginia play next to Kansas guard Frank Mason III in the Jayhawks 74-63 loss to the Mountaineers in Morgantown, W.V. Tuesday.

2 – West Virginia’s press is good. Really good. But 22 turnovers good? I’m not so sure. At least not against Kansas, a team that possesses so many guys who can handle the basketball (something we have made sure to point out all season). The most confusing part about the breakdown against the WVU press was not that it happened. It’s going to happen. That style and intensity would force even the most solid teams into a couple of mistakes. But the most confusing part was there were enough moments where it was clear that Kansas knew how to break that press — and occasionally did it with ease — that I’m not sure why it didn’t happen more often. Credit West Virginia for making life miserable for the Jayhawks. But the road team did itself no favors in that department either.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas coach Bill Self tries to catch a loose ball as Kansas forward Jamari Traylor chased it out of bounds in a game between the Jayhawks and the Mountaineers in Morgantown, W.V. Tuesday.

3 – I like Svi’s game and I think he could wind up being a good player in time, but right now he seems pretty one-dimensional — he’s a spot-up shooter. And when he’s not knocking, as was the case on Tuesday night, I’m not sure how or why he plays 17 minutes. Svi was 0-of-4 from the floor, 0-of-3 from three-point range and picked up one assist, one steal, one block and one turnover. As underwhelming as those stats are, I think the biggest factor that triggered the hey-what’s-this-guy-doing-out-there-so-much meter was the fact that you could see him out there with your own eyes but really could not come up with a single thing he had done, good or bad. It’s too bad, too, because earlier this season, it really looked as if the Ukrainian sensation was headed toward turning the corner.

One for the road

KU’s loss at No. 11 West Virginia…

• Ended a 13-game winning streak, the longest since an 18-game winning streak during the 2012-13 season

• Made KU 2-1 in true road games and 7-2 in games not played in Allen Fieldhouse this season.

• Moved Self to 366-80 while at KU and 573-185 all-time.

• Dropped the Jayhawks to 2,167-833 all-time.

Next up

After one of the Big 12’s worst road double-headers, the Jayhawks will be back in Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tip-off against TCU. Those poor Horned Frogs.

More news and notes from No. 1 Kansas at No. 11 West Virginia

By the Numbers: West Virginia 74, Kansas 63