photo by: AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Houston's L.J. Cryer (4) reaches to steal the ball away from Kansas' Hunter Dickinson (1) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, March 9, 2024, in Houston.

Houston — What Houston did to Kansas at the Fertitta Center Saturday is what the top-ranked Cougars have done to plenty of teams this season. It’s just not remotely how it went down when those two teams met back in February.

A month earlier, at Allen Fieldhouse, the Jayhawks made 17 of their 25 first-half shots and built a lead the Cougars couldn’t surmount.

In Saturday’s rematch in Houston, they hit just 6 of 23.

What remained consistent from one matchup to the next was the great quantity of turnovers KU surrendered to UH, and the Cougars made the 14th-ranked Jayhawks pay from the opening whistle, scoring 21 points off turnovers in the first half — as many as KU got in the entire period.

In a battle of the preseason No. 1 and the team that will enter the postseason as No. 1, KU never got remotely close to Houston at any point after the teams were tied 2-2 and sustained a 76-46 blowout loss in its regular-season finale, its worst defeat of the season and one of the worst under Bill Self.

“I don’t know that I’m disappointed in the effort,” Self said. “I’m more disappointed in the competitiveness. There (were) a lot of 50/50 balls, a lot of blown things that we did, that made it look even worse than what it was. I’m not going to fault the effort, but being prepared from a competitive standpoint, I would certainly fault that we could be a lot better in that area.”

The Cougars had clinched sole possession of the Big 12 title even before their victory because Iowa State lost at Kansas State — news that was announced to a standing ovation at the Fertitta Center.

“Houston’s got to be one of the favorites (for the national championship),” Self said. “I hope they’re the No. 1 overall seed going into the tournament. I personally think they deserve that, winning our league in dominant fashion, which they have. Kelvin (Sampson)’s got a team that can win it all.”

They were led by Jamal Shead, the favorite for conference player of the year, who scored 13 points with seven assists and six rebounds. Damian Dunn hit three 3-pointers off the bench and scored 12 points overall, while L.J. Cryer added 11 and J’Wan Roberts 10.

“They kind of felt what we had in Lawrence tonight with their crowd and their senior night,” center Parker Braun said. “But that’s not really an excuse. You still got to come out and compete and know that you’re going to get their best shot.”

Hunter Dickinson was KU’s only double-digit scorer with 11 points and he left the game midway through the second half with a dislocated shoulder. The Jayhawks shot 33.3% from the field and 14.3% from deep and turned it over 18 times.

“If you want to compete, let alone beat a team like this in their own building, you got to bring it,” Braun said. “We didn’t, obviously. They threw the first punch and we folded and unfortunately we didn’t even get up.”

The Cougars’ defense, statistically the best in the nation, took an early and heavy toll on KU’s offense as the Jayhawks found themselves repeatedly settling for jump shots by post players and scored just once in the first five minutes of play. By the time they made their second field goal — a contested layup by Dajuan Harris Jr. — they had been 1-for-12, with the sole consolation being four fouls they had drawn early against UH.

In that time, the Cougars were able to go up double digits after a miscommunication in the backcourt led to a turnover by Harris and a transition 3-pointer for Cryer. Self called timeout, only for KU to commit a turnover, allow a layup, miss a shot and then give up another 3, this time by Emanuel Sharp, to make it 19-4 entering a second timeout.

“They were turned up and ready to go,” Self said. “The few good possessions we had, we came away empty on them, and the few bad possessions they had, it seems like they got three points at the end of the clock.”

In a series of possessions that encapsulated the first half, Dunn and Sharp each missed attempts from beyond the arc that could have put Houston up 20 before Shead beat multiple Jayhawks to a loose ball and set up Dunn for another opportunity. This time he converted and boosted the lead to 29-9.

KU hit its first 3-pointer of the night and cut its deficit to 18 with three minutes left in the half, but UH had an answer with a jumper by Shead and an alley-oop finish for Mylik Wilson.

Jamari McDowell started the second half for the Jayhawks in place of what Self described as a “hurting” Kevin McCullar, who did not score in the first period. With 16:34 to go, McDowell tried to stop Shead on a drive to the basket and was able to knock the ball away briefly, but Shead regained control, drew a foul and ultimately finished a three-point play to put UH up 50-24.

The Cougars held a similar margin for much of the second half.

Dickinson hit a 3-pointer and then rattled in a hook shot, but then hurt his shoulder after going for a rebound with 11 minutes left and rushed off the court during the following timeout.

That left the Jayhawks playing with a depleted lineup that played decent first-shot defense but conceded a second-chance 3-pointer to Dunn after Johnny Furphy blocked his pull-up jumper attempt and then another hard-fought 3 to Cryer moments later.

KU played several walk-ons late in the second half.

“We’re leaving out of here thinking, ‘That was a terrible loss today and not a great effort and also we got beat up in the meantime,'” Self said.

The Jayhawks, who fell to 10-8 in conference play and 22-9 overall, will play their first Big 12 Conference tournament game Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. They are the No. 6 seed and will face either No. 11 Cincinnati or No. 14 West Virginia.

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