One of college basketball’s longest streaks in the AP poll era ended Saturday following Cincinnati’s 84-68 thumping of eighth-ranked Kansas, a jolting setback for a Jayhawks team who were projected as a 3-seed in the East by the NCAA Tournament selection committee a few hours prior.
The Jayhawks hadn’t lost to an unranked team at home by 10 or more points since 1993, which spanned a nation-leading 425 consecutive games.
Cincinnati 7-footer Moustapha Thiam poured in a career-high 28 points and helped the Bearcats pull away down the stretch with a 3-pointer with 7:35 to play after Kansas had moved within a possession.
“We were just awful today defensively,” Kansas coach Bill Self reported. “They were great. Their bigs dominated. Their guards, we didn’t pressure them and they got what they wanted to. … it was a combination of defensive rebounding, their guards getting to where they want to go. But their bigs, they destroyed us.”
It was a particularly disheartening performance given the Jayhawks’ play since overcoming a 1-2 start in Big 12 play to win nine of their last 10 games. Expecting another high-end outing Saturday afternoon coming off recent victories over BYU, Texas Tech and Utah, Kansas failed to land body blows in the second half to a Bearcats team that pulled to .500 this season in conference play.
- The 16-point home loss was the Jayhawks’ largest to an unranked opponent since 1973, besting a 15-point setback to Long Beach State in 1993 when Kansas was ranked No. 1.
This marks the fourth-largest home loss Kansas has suffered under Self with all the others coming against ranked competition. Cincinnati made 12 of 21 attempts from behind the 3-point line and sent Jayhawks fans to the exits early with a home showdown against Houston looming on Monday night.
- Lost by 25 to No. 8 Texas on Jan. 2, 2021
- Lost by 23 to No. 14 TCU on Jan. 21, 2023
- Lost by 18 to No. 12 Kentucky on Jan. 29, 2022
The Jayhawks were one of five Big 12 teams to receive a top-16 seed in Saturday’s NCAA March Madness bracket preview. They’ll try and regroup next week with the first of two pivotal contests against the conference’s top teams.
Self reported his team played “soft” and had lacked energy on the glass after getting out-rebounded by Cincinnati, 40-29.
“We respected the opponent, but the bottom line is, we didn’t bring it as a unit from an energy standpoint, like you got to when they’re good,” Self reported. “I mean, we played a NCAA Tournament team today. There’s no doubt about that. They’ve had their moments this season where they’ve been inconsistent and not as good, but they were great today.”
