Moments That Popped: Arizona State 70, No. 14 Kansas 60

For the second consecutive season, this time in a different state, the Jayhawks' extended road trip ended in disaster, with the 14th-ranked Jayhawks falling at barely-.500 Arizona State, 70-60, on Tuesday night.

Tuesday's loss, in which KU never led, followed a 23-point loss at No. 2 Arizona over the weekend, with the Jayhawks electing to stay in Arizona for the Saturday-Tuesday turnaround instead of returning home.

They did the same thing on a road trip to BYU and Utah last season and suffered a pair of forgettable losses on that trip, as well.

Kansas is now 0-5 all-time at Arizona State. And the Jayhawks have seen their share of courtstormings after losing in that building. ASU led for 39:17 of the 40-minute game on Tuesday night.

The Jayhawks had the game down to 2, the closest they had been since trailing 2-0, but ASU responded to that with a late-clock 3-pointer and a steal and bucket in transition to push the lead right back to 7 (62-55) with 3:19 to play.

You got the feeling at the moment that, even though there was still time left, that that sequence was going to be a killer for Kansas.

And it was.

The Jayhawks missed out on a golden opportunity to move into the No. 3 spot in the Big 12 standings, which could conceivably make their road in the upcoming Big 12 tourney a little easier. As it stands now, as the 4 seed, KU could face a road of Iowa State in the quarterfinals, Arizona in the semis and Houston in the title game, a murder's row of Big 12 foes, all of which KU has beaten this season but also three teams that are currently in the Top 7 in the AP Top 25 poll.

Next up, KU (21-9 overall, 11-6 Big 12) will return home to close out the regular season with a Sunflower Showdown battle against Kansas State at 1 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Here's a look back at some Tuesday's action from Round 2 in the desert.

LIKES

• Second half urgency - It was clear from the first possession of the second half that the Jayhawks understood how dire the situation was. And their play matched that. They were much faster, much more purposeful and much more confident with everything they did. Attacking. Shooting. Defending. Rebounding. The Jayhawks opened the second half with a 13-2 run to cut the ASU lead from 20 to 9 in just 4:47 of game time. That flipped the game almost completely, putting Kansas in the position of aggressor and forcing ASU to respond, react and find its footing again. The run eventually grew to 19-3 as KU hit 9 of 12 shots to open the 2nd half, including 4-of-4 shooting from 3-point range, with Darry Peterson finally hitting his first shots on back-t0-back 3-point makes during the run.

• Self fiery in the huddle - There was some serious dogging it going on during the first 10+ minutes of this one, and KU coach Bill Self made it clear during one timeout that that wasn't OK with him. More specifically, he made sure to let KU guard Darryn Peterson know it. The broadcast caught the exchange, which Peterson handled like a pro. Self repeatedly yelled in DP's direction and the KU freshman just kept nodding as if to say, 'Yes, coach.' Self talked a couple of weeks ago about not feeling like he's truly been able to able to coach Peterson yet because of the way his season has played out. But, with the postseason nearing, and DP consistently being on the floor of late, Self appears to be ready to flip that switch as often as his team and the individuals on it need him to.

• Offensive rebounding - They didn't capitalize on a ton of them, at one point shooting just 5-of-17 on layups in the game. But you still have to tip your cap to the Jayhawks for getting on the offensive glass as well as they have at just about any time this season. KU recorded 20 offensive boards through the first 32 minutes of the game and finished the night with 25 offensive rebounds, their most in a conference game in nearly 20 years. At least some of those — perhaps the majority — speak to how hard KU had to play in this one. It's funny that on a night when KU out-rebounded its opponent 25-14 on the offensive glass, the Jayhawks still got outscored 12-6 in second-chance points. Kind of sums up the night.

DISLIKES

• Awful offensive flow to open - No movement. Guys standing. Bad shots. Ugly turnovers. It was all there — or wasn't — for the Jayhawks in the first five minutes of this one. Not only was Arizona State the much more aggressive team, the Sun Devils also looked like a much more cohesive team. And this is coming from a group that is likely going to have a new head coach next season. Maybe there's something to the desperation of that. Or maybe these long road trips just don't suit the Jayhawks. Either way, on a night when they needed to open the game with poise and determined to take control early, they did the exact opposite and found themselves in a quick hole (11-3) and seeming to lack confidence in themselves and each other. Things didn't get much better after the start. More than 8 minutes into this one, KU was just 3-for-15 from the floor, with a pair of Tre White jumpers and a Flory Bidunga dunk as the only makes.

• Bidunga at the rim - It had to be five or more misses from point-blank range and still another that was rejected with a purpose for a really, really rough first half by KU big man Flory Bidunga. Bidunga looked crazy scattered and sped up on most of those attempts and didn't gather himself and go up the way he should've to at least draw a foul. He missed six of his first seven shots and every one of them came in the paint, sometimes back-to-back misses on the same possession. When you add the first half of this game onto what Bidunga did — or didn't do — in the loss at Arizona over the weekend, you're clearly looking at a guy going in the wrong direction as the postseason draws near. He clearly used the halftime break to do some soul searching. He looked much more poised on the first possession of the second half in finishing a bucket in close through contact. Bidunga finished with a respectable line of 14 points and 13 rebounds in 38 minutes. But that frantic start really helped set the tone for an ugly night overall.

• Pace vs. Poise - There are so many stats that told the story in this game. Some that made sense. Some that were flukey, both for Arizona State and against Kansas. And some that left you scratching your head. But one of the biggest reasons KU lost this game was because they too often allowed Arizona State to control the pace of play. When the Jayhawks were able to attack and run, good things usually happened. Never was that more clear than in that first few minutes of the 2nd half. When they weren't able to get out fast, ASU found a way to milk the clock, make KU defend and come up with some timely shots and big second-chance buckets that did KU in.

• Bland/White mix-up - You can definitely dismiss this as a heat-of-the-moment sort of thing, but it's never a great look when a player and assistant coach are barking at each other, as happened with KU assistant Tony Bland and senior forward Tre White after Elmarko Jackson's flagrant foul. Bland came all the way onto the floor to the basket at the other end to ensure that things did not escalate with the teams jawing. And as he pulled White away from the pack, White objected to how he was being handled and was seen yelling at Bland before assistant Jeremy Case came in and settled them both down. It is just one of those things, with competitive fires roaring. But it was also an indicator of how out of sorts the Jayhawks were by the way they were playing and the fact that Arizona State had them on the ropes. Tough night all around.

• Free throw discrepancy - ASU out-shot Kansas nearly 2 to 1 at the free throw line in this one, getting to the line 30 times and making 24 of its free throw attempts, while the Jayhawks made just 11 of 16. That's a 13-point edge at the line for the Sun Devils, who won the game by 10. Some of that was owed to the three technical fouls and one flagrant foul on the Jayhawks.

WHAT THE?

• Self ejected - Maybe Self was a little too fiery on that sideline in this one. In a rare occurrence, the KU coach was ejected with 6:07 to play in the first half after receiving back-to-back technical fouls following a foul called against Darryn Peterson on the offensive end. DP got tangled up with an ASU defender as he was trying to move from the paint to the perimeter, but it was Peterson who got called for the foul, which Self clearly disagreed with. The Sun Devils used the sequence to build a 10-point lead with a few free throws, but it also appeared to bring a little life to the KU side. Self's not real big on the get tossed to send a message or fire his team up stuff. So, I doubt this was intentional in any way. He was clearly not happy with the call, but he and several KU assistant coaches also looked perplexed by the ejection. Get this... Later in the first half, KU assistant Jacque Vaughn, who took over for Self, also got T'd up. I've been covering KU for a long, long time and can't ever recall seeing something like this.

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