On paper, there was almost no way that a KU loss on Saturday at Arizona could go down as a bad loss.
It was a rematch of an absolute classic at Allen Fieldhouse, which the Jayhawks won by 4 without Darryn Peterson, and playing at Arizona has proven to be no picnic for anybody over the years.
Beyond that, the Wildcats may very well enter March as the favorite to win the national title. So, yeah, no shame in losing that game.
But when it comes to the way the Jayhawks played on Saturday, during an 84-61 loss at Arizona, that's where it's easy to say that some of what we saw was certainly bad.
Bad chemistry. Bad execution. Bad outcome.
Again, losing at Arizona is nothing to hang your head about. And, because of that, this can still go down as a good week for the Jayhawks, following that convincing win over No. 5 Houston on Monday night.
But in order for that one to matter — or any of what comes next — it'll be incredibly important for the Jayhawks to flush this one immediately, learn what they can from it and then move on as if it never even happened.
This team has shown itself to be pretty resilient for most of the season. So, the smart money is on that happening. KU now has two games remaining in the regular season — they'll be heavy favorites in both of them — to fine-tune what they'll take into the postseason.
Being sharp and convincing in both of those games will be just as important as anything that went down on Saturday at Arizona.
Next up, KU (21-8 overall, 11-5 Big 12) will stay in Arizona and look for its latest bounce-back in a battle with Arizona State on Tuesday (March 3) at 8 p.m. on FS1.
Here's a look back at some Saturday's action from Tucson, Arizona.
LIKES
• No quit - The Jayhawks were down 21-5 seven minutes into this one after an absolutely brutal start on both ends and, yet, still found a way to make it a game at a couple of different points. The Jayhawks trailed by just 11 at halftime and, despite not playing well, were very much still in the game. And they proved that to be the case with a decent start to the second half that saw them close the Arizona lead all the way down to 2, at 49-47 with 12 minutes to play. Things went south from there, but for this team to shave 16 points off of what once was an 18-point U of A lead in the first half illustrates clearly — and for yet another time — that this group simply does not lay down. Not when the scoreboard is ugly. Not when they're playing poorly. Not ever. They were blitzed during the final 12 minutes and appeared to run out of gas after cutting it to 2, but this game could've easily been over at halftime instead of taking to the final quarter to be decided. That might not make that 23-point difference in the final score feel much better, but it's not nothing.
• DP's aggressive start - I know he wasn't his greatest. And I know he needed 21 shots to get his 24 points. But hear me out. He played his third straight game of 30+ minutes — no matter what you hear or read, that's not a bad thing — and he came out looking to be aggressive from the jump. I like it. KU will need it. And, someday, they may actually benefit from it again the way they did in those scorching-hot first halves he turned in against BYU and Baylor. If there's one thing I'd still like to see from Darryn before his lone season as a Jayhawk is finished, it's for him to take this mentality out of the gate — attack, be the aggressor, look to dominate — but to do it by trying to get to the free throw line and possibly even as a facilitator. Imagine if DP decided one night that he had to record 5 assists before he took his first shot. He could be a vicious creator for others and that would make his game — and these Jayhawks — far more dangerous than him taking jumper after jumper. The jump shots are great when they go down. But when they don't, they have a semi-negative affect on the rest of the roster and KU's offensive flow.
DISLIKES
• Sped up for the entire 1st half - It's almost as if the Jayhawks forgot how they beat the Wildcats at home a couple of weeks ago. In that one, KU used incredible effort and skill threaded together by a team-first mentality and attacking the Wildcats where they allowed them to do so. In this one, Kansas often looked like a collection of five guys on the floor who were so desperate to recreate that that they were willing and trying to go do it all by themselves. Forcing here. Rushed there. Out of sync over there. Almost everything they did looked a little too sped up and that led to a much easier afternoon for the home team. Some of that is owed to the awful start, which no doubt put KU behind the 8 ball and made them feel like they had to press to get back into it.
• Defense exposed early on - Arizona raced out to a 21-5 lead and, in doing so, got just about everything it wanted. They made just one 3-pointer in that stretch and were 7-of-9 on 2-pointers, with many of those coming right at the rim. In fact, 24 of the Wildcats' 39 first-half points were in the paint, well ahead of their pace of 43 per game for the season. The Jayhawks did a better job of clamping down in the second half, giving up just 6 points in the paint during the final 20 minutes. But they also put the Wildcats on the free throw line a whopping 34 times — 26 in the second half — where they scored 30 of their 84 points. Speaking of that number, the Jayhawks have given up 84 points or more just 6 times in 29 games this season. But two of those six times have come in the past three games, in back-to-back Saturdays. There's still a lot this offense has to work out, but the KU defense is also worth keeping an eye on. Usually at this point in the season, the defense is dialed in and ready for a run. Based on what we've seen the past two Saturdays — albeit against a damn good team this Saturday — we have to wonder if this defense is anywhere close to postseason ready.
• Flory's forced jump hook - Big man Flory Bidunga has turned his jump hook into a bit of a weapon this season, almost as vicious as his ability to finish lobs and put up points at the rim. And it's a thing of beauty when he's got it going. Saturday was not one of those days, simply because Flo seemed to be forcing that shot way too much in the early going. He was right to be aggressive in attacking Motiejus Krivas, but the Arizona big man is such a good defender that he did a solid job of forcing Bigunga away from the basket and making that shot a little too long. Those misses alone derailed Bidunga's entire offensive day and he finished just 1-of-5 from the floor for 2 points and 4 rebounds in 32 minutes. Lesson learned, I'm sure. Or, at least I hope. It's a great shot when it's there and he's in range. But it's a bad decision to force it when he's not.
WHAT THE?
• Holy tip-in, Batman - KU guard Melvin Council Jr. has been known to call his buddy, Darryn Peterson, "Batman," on occasion. So, the exclamation here fits for more than just the moment. Early in the 2nd half, with KU down by just 7, Peterson missed a free-throw-line jumper but immediately felt that it was off and out-raced everyone to the rim to tip-in his own miss. He snuck his right hand in between four others that were trying to clean up the miss and put another 2 points on the board for the Jayhawks. The instincts and reaction to the miss were insane and were an example of what I think all of us expected to see over and over from DP this season. He actually did a version of this TWICE in this game. A couple of possessions earlier, he missed a floater on the right side and followed the miss with a one-handed, fade-away type tip-in. Insane.
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