The preseason No. 1 team in men’s college basketball continued its conference-play swoon Tuesday when No. 23 Kansas lost 91-57 at BYU, matching the largest margin of defeat under head coach Bill Self, who has led the Jayhawks since 2003.
The 34-point loss tied for the third-worst loss in program history and threatens to leave KU unranked in the next Associated Press Top 25 for just the second time since 2009.
The last time Kansas lost by 34 was during the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament when USC rolled the Jayhawks 85-51 to advance to the Sweet 16.
Kansas, which got off to a 7-0 start this season highlighted by wins against North Carolina, Michigan State and Duke, is now 17-9 with its last three losses coming against teams not in top 25 consideration. Saturday’s 74-67 loss to Utah, hours after the Jayhawks earned a No. 4 seed in the men’s basketball selection committee’s bracket preview, left them with an uphill battle to earn one of the double-byes granted to the top four seeds in the Big 12 tournament.
Tuesday’s loss was lowlighted by 15 turnovers and an astounding 38-point deficit with just under six minutes to go in the second half. Kansas is now 6-14 in true road games since the start of the 2023-24 season.
“I thought we were awful and I thought they were great,” Self said. “I think that BYU could have beaten anybody tonight. They were great, and we didn’t do anything to make them play less great. … Our offense stunk. But that wasn’t it; it wasn’t our offense. It was we couldn’t stop them or get any momentum to stop them.”
BYU forward Richie Saunders was his team’s leading scorer with 22 points, as the Cougars hit 51.5 percent of their shots from the field.
Hunter Dickinson led the Jayhawks with 12 points and 14 rebounds, while David Coit came off the bench to contribute 11 points. No other Kansas players scored in double digits.
Kansas returns home to face Oklahoma State on Saturday before visiting Colorado on Monday. The Jayhawks close out the regular season with a trio of formidable opponents when they host No. 9 Texas Tech, are at No. 5 Houston and play No. 19 Arizona at home.
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(Photo: David Purdy / Getty Images)
