KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – An abysmal offensive performance for the Kansas Jayhawks ended their Big 12 Tournament hopes Friday night with a 69-47 loss to the Houston Cougars.
The Jayhawks shot 24.6% from the floor and hit a lengthy dry-spell to begin the second half 0-for-16 shooting in the loss.
“We obviously weren’t very good tonight, and they got off to a good start and we were playing catchup and never had offense the entire game,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said.
Kansas senior guard Melvin Council Jr. struggled to find any success, missing his first 10 shots of the game before a layup in the second half lifted the lid for him. Council ended the night with 4 points on 1-for-14 shooting.
“March Madness is win or go home, so that’s basically what we’re looking at,” Council Jr. said. “Starting with me, starting in practice, we just got to get ready for March Madness.”
Star freshman guard Darryn Peterson had 14 points on 3-for-11 shooting, failing to make a shot in the second half. He added 4 rebounds and an assist in the losing effort. His freshmen counterparts for Houston outmatched him as Cougars forward Chris Cenac and Kingston Flemings each scored in double-figures for Houston.
Houston’s ability to hard hedge the Kansas ball screens and force the Jayhawk guards to retreat in their ball-screen offense led to a lack of offensive touches for Kansas center Flory Bidunga. In the first half, the sophomore center had just 1 point and no official shot attempts, making his only mark in the stat sheet with his seven rebounds and two fouls.
In a role reversal from the matchup a few weeks prior in Lawrence, it was the Houston Cougars who were hot shooting the ball from distance in the first half. Freshman forward Chris Cenac set the tone for Houston, making three attempts from 3-point range in the first half after going 1-for-4 from distance two weeks ago at Allen Fieldhouse.
Flemings ended with a game-high 21 points in Houston’s win.
Kansas shot 4-for-11 from distance in the opening stanza, but struggled mightily inside the arc to shoot just 8-of-26 in the first half.
While Houston struggled overall with its shooting percentage, the Cougars made 9 of their first 15 attempts from 3-point range and finished the night 10-of-18 from deep to win comfortably.
Houston advances to Saturday night’s Big 12 Tournament Championship game, which will be a rematch of last year’s title game between the Cougars and Arizona Wildcats.
Tip-off between the Cougars and Wildcats will be set for 5 p.m. CT.
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