Kansas forward Flory Bidunga (40) pulls in an offensive rebound against Houston during the first half on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

Disaster struck twice for Kansas on Saturday night.

Once in regulation and once in the first overtime period, the Jayhawks held six-point leads late against higher-ranked Houston.

In the second half, they allowed back-to-back floaters by Milos Uzan, committed a five-second violation on the baseline when they had timeouts available and then fouled J’Wan Roberts to allow two game-tying free throws.

In overtime, Dajuan Harris Jr. missed back-to-back free throws and Emanuel Sharp and Mylik Wilson connected on 3-pointers, aided by another brutal Jayhawk turnover.

In the opposite position, forced to rally in the second overtime, KU couldn’t match the Cougars’ resilience. The 12th-ranked Jayhawks fell 92-86 in a rare defeat at Allen Fieldhouse.

In the process, they squandered season-best nights from Rylan Griffen, who scored five 3-pointers for 17 points, and Flory Bidunga, who tallied 19 points and seven rebounds before fouling out in the second overtime.

KU had no answer for Roberts, who shook off some struggles at the free-throw line to lead all scorers with 24 points. Mylik Wilson scored a season-best 18 off the bench for Houston and Uzan, whose late-game heroics saved the Cougars had 17.

Hunter Dickinson and Zeke Mayo also reached double figures on a night when neither had his best offensive game.

Houston’s lineup took an early hit when Emanuel Sharp, whose status had been in some doubt due to an injured ankle, started the game but exited after 45 seconds, walking off the court gingerly. His replacement, Terrance Arceneaux, immediately hit a 3-pointer for the first field goal by either team.

Both defenses made it every bit as challenging as expected in the early going. Sharp returned to the lineup, only for Ja’Vier Francis to get immediately hurt. Meanwhile, KU took a 12-7 lead on back-to-back buckets by Mayo, only for Houston to eat into its advantage with consecutive hook shots by Roberts, then take a 15-14 lead on a dunk by JoJo Tugler.

Shakeel Moore ended the early 8-0 run with a corner 3 set up by Dajuan Harris Jr.’s penetration into the paint. Harris got into the action himself from beyond the arc soon after, as did Griffen after he secured a key offensive rebound, and KU took its biggest advantage of the day at 25-15, with Houston failing to score for more than four minutes.

The Cougars eventually found their rhythm, boosted by key minutes off the bench from Wilson, who had nine points in rapid succession and shrank KU’s lead to one point with just over two minutes to go.

A scoop-and-score by Harris, aided by goaltending, gave the Jayhawks a bit of space, and Bidunga made it 38-31 at the break.

By halftime, Harris had already racked up seven assists, a greater total than the entirety of Houston’s roster.

The Cougars came out strong in the second half. Wilson continued his unexpected scoring tear and LJ Cryer hit his first field goal of the day, a 3-pointer. With KU up 40-38, Moore missed a transition dunk, and after a series of opportunities squandered by both teams, Roberts sank a push shot to tie the game and force a timeout by Bill Self.

Houston took its first lead of the second half soon after, aided by some uncharacteristic turnovers by the Jayhawks, and by the time Mayo drained a straight-on jump shot, KU had gone scoreless for more than six minutes.

The only reason KU didn’t get behind by more than six points was a series of five missed throws by Roberts and two by Cryer. Instead, with 10 minutes to go, Dickinson made two to tie the game at 48, and Bidunga put KU in front with a pair of dunks.

Dickinson and Roberts exchanged three-point plays in the final minutes. With KU up 61-60 and just over two minutes remaining, Griffen hit a critical corner 3.

The Jayhawks came up empty with a four-point lead and 35 seconds remaining, suffering a shot-clock violation, and Uzan connected on his second straight floater to make it 66-64.

After Moore fouled Roberts and the forward made both free throws, KU couldn’t get a shot off on its final possession of regulation.

Roberts repeatedly made tough shots in the post against Dickinson in the early stages of overtime. But he missed at a key moment with KU up a point, and again, Griffen found space behind a screen to drain his fifth 3-pointer of the night and make it 77-73 with 51.5 seconds left.

Houston had one last moment of hope after Harris missed a pair of free throws with KU up 79-73 and then Sharp, who had gone scoreless, got an NBA-range contested 3 to fall. Mayo threw the ball away from the baseline and Wilson tied the game.

The Jayhawks’ offense took a significant blow at the start of the second overtime when Griffen missed consecutive free throws and Bidunga fouled out trying to get a rebound on the second. Then, Sharp and Uzan scored from deep on consecutive possessions.

Mayo scored a three-point play in transition to make it 86-84, but KU couldn’t get a rebound after Roberts missed the next time down, and he ended up putting back his own shot.

The Jayhawks will host UCF on Tuesday at 7 p.m., in a rematch of the game on Jan. 5 that KU won 99-48. The Knights are 13-6 and 4-4 in the Big 12 after blowing out TCU 85-58 on Saturday afternoon.

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