The Kansas bench celebrates a bucket by Kansas forward K.J. Adams Jr. (24) during the second half on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas freshman guard Elmarko Jackson put the finishing touches on a 74-69 bounce-back victory over Cincinnati, converting on a pair of free throws with 10 seconds remaining after an intentional foul. But that’s not the only reason why those points proved to be significant.

Jackson’s two freebies at the foul line served as the only two points scored by the Kansas bench on Monday night in Allen Fieldhouse. Cincinnati’s reserves scored 32 points in the loss, a disparity that was rather alarming to KU head coach Bill Self during his postgame press conference.

“I think there is some concern,” Self said. “They basically outscored us 32-0 from the bench. I don’t know if that’s ever been heard of where a team wins.”

While the bench gap was particularly pronounced on Monday, KU’s depth issues have been well-documented throughout the 2023-24 campaign. It’s just become more evident since freshman Johnny Furphy moved to the starting lineup these last four games.

Furphy, who Self called “the best player in the game” after the win over Cincinnati, recorded his first career double-double with a personal-best 23 points and 11 rebounds. He also added three assists and two steals in 36 minutes, providing a huge boost during this recent 3-1 stretch since replacing Jackson in the starting lineup.

“I guess if we brought Johnny off the bench, we’d have more bench points,” Self said. “We (have) to get more production from that.”

With Furphy starting, Self’s reserve options are now limited to Jackson, Nicolas Timberlake, Jamari McDowell and Parker Braun. That quartet combined to go 0-for-2 from the floor with two rebounds and one assist in a total of 26 minutes of action. Neither Timberlake nor McDowell played more than two minutes.

Over the last four games, the Kansas bench has produced a total of 29 points, with 12 of those coming from Timberlake against West Virginia. For the season, the Jayhawks rank 326th in the country in bench points with an average of 13.68 points per game.

Given the loss of Furphy’s offensive punch, one could argue that scoring is not the best metric to quantify the impact of the bench. As such, it’s worth noting that Kansas ranks 354th in the country in bench minutes.

“Depth is important (and) it’s a heck a lot more important now than in the postseason,” Self said. “Depth in the tournament is most important through foul troubles and injuries. If you don’t have those, you can play guys (for) 35 minutes in the NCAA Tournament, at least we could.”

As a result, Monday’s matchup was arguably the biggest indictment of KU’s bench to date.

The Jayhawks were hoping to give those players more minutes with a short turnaround following Saturday’s road loss at West Virginia. Self admitted after the game that both starters Kevin McCullar Jr. and Hunter Dickinson are playing hurt at the moment. Dickinson dealt with foul trouble all night, which led to him playing just 29 minutes.

Despite all that, Jackson and Braun were the only reserves to play double-digit minutes. Timberlake actually matched his season low in minutes, while McDowell only saw the floor late in the first half when KJ Adams Jr. dealt with early foul trouble.

In those minutes, Braun was the only reserve to post a positive plus-minus in the final box score with Kansas outscoring Cincinnati by three points when he was on the floor. McDowell had a minus-4 point differential, while both Jackson and Timberlake finished minus-6 for the game.

“We are going to need to be able to substitute and not lose anything when we do for that two or three minutes at a time,” Self told Scott Van Pelt during an interview on SportsCenter following the game. ”

According to CBB Analytics, KU’s starting lineup has been responsible for 137 of the 273 possessions and played 80 of the 160 minutes across the last four games. No other five-man unit has logged more than 23 possessions or played more than 13 minutes together over that span.

It’s clearly become desperation time for Self to find some level of bench production, especially with the Big 12 Conference schedule heating up. Kansas will travel to Iowa State on Saturday before a two-game homestand against Oklahoma State and Houston next week.

“Now it’s more prevalent and more obvious and more apparent that we don’t have the depth or production off the bench,” Self said. “Now is when guys (have) to step up. We need guys to step up and play in a way that adds value when they are in the game.”

But the reality is, the bench problem might never be solved, especially with Furphy playing as well as he has in the starting lineup.

Kansas guard Elmarko Jackson (13) throws a pass as he is defended by Cincinnati guard Simas Lukosius (41) during the second half on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Cincinnati forward John Newman III (15) gets past Kansas forward Parker Braun (23) to put up a shot during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Lawrence. Kansas won 74-69.