Kansas basketball leaves two-game road trip with losses and still in search of an identity

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This isn’t what Kansas basketball is supposed to be.

Through the past two games, the Jayhawks have gotten off to slow starts. After doing so, they’ve battled back. Then, despite those efforts, they’ve lost.

The first time was last Wednesday on the road against Creighton. The second time was this past Sunday on the road against Missouri. Away from Allen Fieldhouse, in environments that have featured hostile crowds, KU has yet to meet the challenge.

But the issue that lingers following these defeats looms larger than a pair of disappointing outcomes. It’s one that can fester over the coming weeks and months, as Kansas looks to achieve the success it entered the season more than a bit capable of. The Jayhawks (7-2) entered the past week as the No. 1 team in the nation, and then suffered a 76-63 loss at Creighton and a 76-67 loss at Missouri, and leave the week without any semblance of an identity.

RELATED: How Kansas basketball’s second-half comeback against Missouri came up short

“I thought after the Duke game — I thought we were closer to establishing an identity,” Kansas head coach Bill Self told reporters after the Missouri defeat. “Then we played really well the next game against Furman, who’s got a good team, and really looked good. But this last week has — we haven’t been any good at all the last five days. So, I don’t know that we’re close to finding an identity yet. Because who are we? Are we a skilled team? Are we an athletic team? Are we an execution team? What do we really hang our hat on? Are we a toughness team? Do we make people play bad? I’ll be honest with you, I think right now we’re kind of in a situation that it’d be hard for me to say from game to game what we are.”

When Self outlines that current reality, he doesn’t mean Kansas isn’t capable of executing one of those situations in a given game. The Jayhawks could be the team that executes better, or plays more skilled, or something else. The problem lies in the…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kansas-basketball-leaves-two-game-181949055.html

Author : The Topeka Capital-Journal

Publish date : 2024-12-09 18:19:00

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