The Jayhawks come together in a huddle during the second half on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

After preventing its conference season from going off the rails with a narrow victory over UCF on Tuesday, the Kansas men’s basketball team has an opportunity to round into form when it travels to face Baylor on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Jayhawks will be looking for their first victory in Waco, Texas, since 2020 after four straight losses between the old Ferrell Center and new Foster Pavilion.

They’ve had more success on the road in conference play, including three league wins there in four tries, after consecutive losses away from home in December.

“I think we’ve done a really good job of just staying together and understanding that regardless of the shots (on) offense, we know that defense travels,” guard David Coit said, “so I think that’s probably been the best thing for us so far getting these wins, and that’s going to be the biggest key going into this game.”

KU has senior forward KJ Adams back in the fold after he missed just three games with a separated shoulder, but is waiting on the potential return of point guard Dajuan Harris Jr., who had appeared in 159 consecutive games before tweaking his ankle and missing Tuesday’s matchup. The Jayhawks hadn’t yet held practice when KU coach Bill Self spoke to reporters on Thursday afternoon, but he said he expected both Adams and Harris to take part in limited fashion.

Self described Baylor on postgame radio after the UCF game as “a little bit like us in that they haven’t really found themselves the way that they’re capable of finding themselves.” The Bears are 5-4 in conference play and have lost three of their last five games, including a 74-71 loss to TCU at Foster Pavilion on Jan. 19 that serves as the only blemish on their home record.

One reason why Baylor hasn’t quite found its stride is its health.

“I talked to (Baylor coach Scott Drew) probably two or three weeks ago and he told me that their top eight players have been together eight times the whole year — for a practice, not even games,” Self said on Thursday.

The Bears have been playing with a seven-man rotation due to injuries to guards Jeremy Roach, who has missed the last three games in the concussion protocol, and Langston Love, who hasn’t played since Dec. 31 due to an ankle issue. Both are listed as day-to-day.

In the meantime, the Bears have relied heavily on Miami transfer forward Norchad Omier, who has recently usurped the title of only Big 12 player averaging a double-double from Hunter Dickinson. Omier is averaging 15.3 points per game and 10.1 rebounds at just 6-foot-7.

“He’s as impressive of a transfer-portal guy as there is from a numbers standpoint,” Self said.

On the offensive end, freshman VJ Edgecombe, a surefire future NBA Draft pick, adds 14.9 points (18.6 since conference play began). Fellow freshman Robert O. Wright III, whom Self called “one of the best point guard prospects in the country,” joins Edgecombe in the backcourt, Josh Ojianwuna teams with Omier in the frontcourt and wing Jayden Nunn, a 43.8% shooter beyond the arc, is the lone familiar face from last year after Baylor sent much of its 2023-24 lineup to the NBA.

photo by: AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

Baylor forward Norchad Omier (15) drives past Arizona guard Jaden Bradley during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Tucson, Ariz.

photo by: AP Photo/Jerry Larson

Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe scores in an NCAA college basketball game against TCU Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Waco, Texas.

Cal transfer Jalen Celestine is the only other player spending significant time on the court as a third freshman, Jason Asemota, sees spot minutes.

As opposed to last season’s Baylor squad, which was one of the best shooting teams in the nation, this year’s Bears have ranked in the middle of the Big 12 in many offensive categories. They still make upwards of nine 3-pointers per game, but on the flip side they give up the greatest shooting percentage from distance (36.3%) of any team in the league.

They don’t rebound particularly well outside of Omier and Ojianwuna, and they’re much better overall on the offensive glass than defensively, meaning that limiting second-chance opportunities will be key for the Jayhawks.

“To me they’re a lot like us,” Self said. “When we’ve been good this year, we’ve been really good. When we haven’t been good, there’s been too big a drop-off, and I’m sure Scott would probably say the same thing about them from a consistency standpoint.”

Baylor Bears (13-7, 5-4 Big 12) vs. No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks (15-5, 6-3 Big 12)

• Foster Pavilion, Waco, Texas, 3 p.m.

• Broadcast: ESPN

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)

Keep an eye out

Wanting Moore: As a veteran point guard and athletic defender, guard Shakeel Moore would seem the player most likely to thrive in Harris’ absence, but that simply wasn’t the case on Tuesday night against UCF, when Self said he didn’t play with enough energy, and suggested Moore might have been dealing with some of the foot soreness that afflicted him earlier in the season. Moore’s 12 minutes on the floor were his lowest total since before he joined the starting lineup, and he lost most of his prospective second-half playing time to Coit after allowing a pair of 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the period. That showing followed a game against Houston in which Moore’s only action in the final 24 minutes of competition was committing a crucial foul during a five-second stint on the court. For KU to have anything resembling proper execution on either side of the ball — which it really did not for much of Tuesday’s game — it would benefit from a functional point guard.

Coit’s confidence: The lid has seemingly come off the basket for Coit, the fifth-year senior transfer from Northern Illinois whom Self credited as a key piece in Tuesday’s victory, as he played a season-high 28 minutes. Self also said he believes Coit will have an integral role in more victories going forward. He views Coit as more of a backup shooting guard behind Zeke Mayo than a ball-handling option, but having broken out of what was once a 3-for-27 shooting slump from the field, Coit is making a case for more playing time as several of KU’s other reserves falter.

Exploits: Self has pointed out that the Bears “guard ball screens different than anybody that we’ve played all year long” in that they switch all five positions at all times. While that could hamper some of KU’s actions, it might also strand the likes of Ojianwuna on the perimeter or Edgecombe or Wright in the post, meaning the Jayhawks will need to be decisive to take advantage of mismatches as they arise. Baylor has also been known to throw a zone at its opponents, as it did at times against KU in Waco last season, and as UCF did to KU on Tuesday; that could also require some adaptation on the part of the Jayhawks.

Off-kilter observation

Edgecombe and KU’s AJ Storr trained together as part of the Bahamian national team over the summer.