No. 3 Kansas will try to avoid a slip-up on Tuesday night when the Jayhawks travel to play Oklahoma State in a Big 12 game in Stillwater, Okla.
Oklahoma State is 8-8 overall and 0-3 in Big 12 games, so the Cowboys will be home underdogs.
Kansas (14-2, 2-1 in the Big 12) notched a 78-66 home victory over No. 9 Oklahoma on Saturday, but that win came three days after it blew a 16-point lead in a 65-60 loss Wednesday to Big 12 newcomer UCF in Orlando.
After beating Oklahoma, Kansas coach Bill Self said he always reminds his players after a loss to “not let one become two.”
“I thought we played really well,” Self said. “Probably the best game we played in a long time, maybe since Connecticut.”
The Jayhawks are 7-1 since a 69-65 home victory over UConn on Dec. 1.
“I thought we shared the ball well and got what we wanted on offense (against Oklahoma),” Self said. “We didn’t shoot it well. We didn’t defend great, but pretty well.
“We had some guys who had good individual performances. The first half I thought we played well, and the second half we kind of separated it a bit.”
The Jayhawks showed their national-title potential by outscoring Oklahoma 40-29 in the second half. Kansas got 24 points and 14 rebounds from Hunter Dickinson, a grad transfer from Michigan, and 21 from Kevin McCullar.
McCullar leads Kansas in scoring at 19.9 points and averages 6.6 rebounds per game, with Dickinson scoring 19.2 points and leading the Jayhawks in rebounds with 12 per game. KJ Adams checks in with averages of 12.6 points and 5.1 rebounds.
Oklahoma State has lost three in a row, but the Cowboys are 8-3 at their raucous Gallagher-Iba Arena home court and nearly upset then-No. 18 Baylor in a 75-70 overtime loss Jan. 6.
Saturday, Oklahoma State fell 66-42 to Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, in a game delayed by more than two hours because of frigid weather and the Cowboys’ travel problems.
The Cowboys didn’t arrive in Ames until three hours before game time. Eric Dailey Jr. scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting for Oklahoma State, who were held under 50 points for the first time this season after scoring fewer than 50 twice last season.
“I hope this doesn’t in any way come across (as an excuse). We played bad,” Cowboys coach Mike Boynton said. “We didn’t play well. And really the weather had nothing to do with how we played.
“We had a bunch of bad options in all honesty, right? … So, weather, right? You can’t really do anything or control it. So, we took the best of the really bad options.”
Javon Small leads Oklahoma State with 14.8 points and 4.3 assists per game, while the Cowboys get 12.6 points per game from Bryce Thompson (36.8 percent on 3-pointers) and 9.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game from Dailey.
Kansas has won the past five meetings and leads the series 123-60.
–Field Level Media