photo by: AP Photo/Jerry Larson

Baylor guard Jayden Nunn (2) is fouled by Kansas forward KJ Adams Jr., right, as Kansas guard Zeke Mayo, left, looks on during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in Waco, Texas.

Waco, Texas — Kansas coach Bill Self acted as though he had found an easy explanation for KU’s struggles in the final 20 minutes on Saturday afternoon.

“I honestly believe the oranges that we ate at halftime that Baylor provided (were) probably the reason why we sucked the second half,” he deadpanned in his postgame press conference.

Later, asked about giving up 60 points to Baylor in that half as KU allowed the biggest comeback in school history, he remained committed to the bit: “You thought that was a joke? No, it was really a fruit.”

In each case, the Jayhawks’ 22nd-year head coach went on to provide a serious answer, as much as he could find one in the wake of the nigh-incomprehensible 81-70 loss and a second-half performance he called “beyond pitiful.” KU came out of the break bent on treating the game like it was 0-0 and heightening their 19-point lead in the first five minutes, Self said, but instead it turned sour: The Jayhawks allowed an immediate 19-4 run, they didn’t guard ball screens, they allowed freshman point guard Robert O. Wright III to take the game over, and so on.

Self didn’t say much of that to his team in the locker room afterward, though. He described his message as “Let’s get out of here and get back to Lawrence and regroup.”.

“I don’t think in situations like that there’s really a lot to be said, to be honest with you,” Self said. “Any type of pick-’em-up talk isn’t going to be heard, and there’s no reason to get on anybody, so yeah, I really didn’t say much.”

The sense of urgency in getting out of Foster Pavilion and back to the Jayhawks’ home court, of course, was because KU has a game against No. 3 Iowa State on Monday at 8 p.m.

“It’s tough but that’s kind of life in the Big 12,” center Hunter Dickinson said. “We got a top-five opponent coming into Allen on Monday so it’s a real short turnaround. We got to put this one behind us and really prepare for a really good team coming in.”

The Jayhawks will hope to prevent this sort of collapse from becoming a recurring issue, at least more so than it already is — Saturday was KU’s second confounding loss in just over a week after they blew a pair of last-minute leads in a double-overtime loss to Houston on Jan. 25.

“It’s not easy to move on, to me,” Self said. “Yeah, there’s some concern.”

He did note that Houston and Baylor featured two different types of failed conclusions to games; at Baylor, he said, the result was more consistent with the overall flow of the second half — i.e., strongly against the Jayhawks.

Wing Rylan Griffen, who scored in double digits in both ill-fated games, put an optimistic spin on the experiences in a postgame radio interview.

“My Final Four team (at Alabama last season), we had 12 losses on the year,” he said. “It shows that the regular season, that’s where you learn all what you got to work on for March, and then in March you got to be able to execute. So today was just another great learning lesson for us just like Houston was last Saturday.”

Iowa State will be hoping it has learned some lessons of its own, and the Cyclones won’t be No. 3 by the time they make it to Lawrence, because they lost 80-61 at home to Kansas State on Saturday. That came just five days after they allowed a game-tying halfcourt shot at the buzzer and then got outscored 15-4 in overtime as they lost at Arizona.

In short, ISU, which has lost three of five since beating KU 74-57 in Ames, Iowa, on Jan. 15, will be eager to get back in the win column.

That prior matchup was closer than the score indicated. ISU’s Curtis Jones scored 20 points in the first half to help the Cyclones go up 10 by the break, but they let KU hang around until Tamin Lipsey drained a second-chance 3-pointer to make it a nine-point game with just over four minutes to go. That was part of a 17-5 run to close out the win.

Key in the Cyclones’ victorious effort were limiting Dickinson to six points and eight rebounds (with four turnovers and four fouls) and forcing 17 turnovers overall with their high-pressure defense.

ISU has continued to play without forward Milan Momcilovic, who has a hand injury. That has moved Jones, who was already the Cyclones’ leading scorer, into the starting lineup alongside Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert in the backcourt with Joshua Jefferson and Dishon Jackson in the frontcourt.

Lipsey led the Cyclones with 20 points in the loss to K-State, matching his season high. The rest of the team shot a combined 13-for-40 (32.5%) from the floor, while ISU committed 18 turnovers and got outrebounded 39-29.

The Jayhawks will now face the teams on both sides of that matchup in succession as they host ISU on Monday before traveling to battle KSU in Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday.