Monday night’s win in Ft. Worth deserves a few notes.
In Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch, he attempts to determine what the perfect win is. Now this was British soccer he was talking about, so the standard is a bit different. I think he settled on a 3–2 triumph when your side trails both 1–0 and 2–1 and scores the winner late. That result would be full of drama and angst, have moments of joy, and a big, cathartic ending.
I’m not sure what the college basketball equivalent of the perfect win is. But Monday’s KU win at TCU was not it.
That doesn’t mean the win wasn’t great. It qualified as a Big Monday Win That Got Me So Pumped Up I Couldn’t Sleep For Hours win. Other than the result, though, nothing about that game was aesthetically pleasing.
It felt like both teams were completely exhausted in the second half, with each side missing some very makable shots. All the energy was being poured into defense which left no legs for offense. The weird thing was it felt like KU was totally in control, yet I’d look down and see that TCU could tie on the current possession. Fran Fraschilla mentioned that it felt like KU was up 12. My TCU brother-in-law texted me saying the Frogs should be down 14. Just a weird game.
In the end, though, to walk out of a road gym with a tough-ass win that the Jayhawks controlled almost the entire night, against a team that beat them by 23 in Allen Fieldhouse three weeks ago, was still an outstanding result.
Adding to the strangeness was the pendulum swing of officiating. The refs largely let the guys play Monday. Which is fine. But it feels like there should be some middle point between not calling anything and blowing the whistle every possession. I know some of that is due to how Big 12 teams play such physical defense, with an emphasis on initiating contact. That makes it tough to find a middle ground. No one wants 2.5 hour games with 40–50 fouls. But the last four minutes or so of Monday’s contest felt more like a playground game where both teams agreed to a “No Blood, No Foul” standard.
To be clear, I think that favored KU in those final 2–3 minutes, as TCU was often hunting fouls since they couldn’t get good looks and the refs weren’t bailing them out.
KU is playing its best defense of the year, at the absolute best time. DaJuan Harris and Kevin McCullar are absolutely shutting down opposing guards. Ernest Udeh has brought a big, physical presence that completely changes KU’s defense in the moments he’s on the court. Bill Self loves talking about how teams that consistently win do so by making their opponents play poorly. KU has finally gotten to that level of play on the defensive end.
I LOVED the postgame pettiness from KU. I had not heard/seen that TCU took the game ball from their win in Lawrence and posted some videos with it on social media. I have zero problem with that. You come into Allen Fieldhouse and run the Jayhawks out of the building, you can do whatever you want.
KU grabbing the game ball Monday and responding with their own videos was great. Especially since you could tell they weren’t just reacting but more mocking the Frogs in the process. Oh, and Gradey Dick showing up for a postgame interview wearing one of the shirts handed out to the TCU crowd, with a big, red W written on it in marker was incredible. It’s a shame that guy is going to be a lottery pick because he has definitely has that edge that would drive people crazy if he hung around another year.
An ugly win, but a huge win. KU avoids the TCU sweep. They get a massive road win. They (briefly) take over first place in the Big 12 with three games to play. They grab their 14th Quad 1 win of the season. Most importantly, they seem to be doing the classic Bill Self era thing where they are playing their best basketball in mid-February.