Kansas basketball is back on the right track in Big 12 play and in Kansas State rivalry

LAWRENCE — Kansas men’s basketball limped to the finish line Tuesday.

After a 90-78 win against Kansas State, coach Bill Self rolled through the injury issues the Jayhawks dealt with without much hesitation.

First there’s freshman guard MJ Rice (back), who warmed up but didn’t play. Then there’s redshirt senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. (finger) and sophomore guard Bobby Pettiford Jr. (hamstring), two regulars in the rotation who each exited the game in the second half before returning. And Self was only naming guys from the group of 10 scholarship players — out of 13 on a roster — Kansas was thought to have available ahead of tip-off.

While in the first half the Jayhawks out-paced the Wildcats, in the second half the two sides ended up just matching up.

But regardless of that limp, No. 8 Kansas wound up protecting home court against No. 6 Kansas State. The Jayhawks, coming off of a non-conference win against Kentucky, ended a three-game losing streak against Big 12 Conference opponents. They exacted some revenge against a rival, too, after a loss earlier in January.

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“I think pride’s a factor whenever you play an in-state school,” said Self, whose team had seen Wildcats fans storm the court in Manhattan earlier this season. “… We talked about beating K-State, but we didn’t talk about beating K-State because of that. We talked about beating K-State in large part because they beat us the first time. And even though they won the game, and deservedly so, we didn’t do many things to enhance our chances of winning the game in the last few possessions of regulation and overtime. So, we felt like that it was one that could have gone the other way and our guys certainly were ready to play tonight.”

Kansas (18-4, 6-3 in Big 12) saw redshirt junior forward Jalen Wilson and freshman guard Gradey Dick's production drop compared with the last K-State game. Dick struggled to hit shots from the field Tuesday and Wilson scored 20 points in this win after scoring 38 points against Kansas State in the loss. The Jayhawks’ bench was instrumental, and both McCullar and redshirt junior guard Dajuan Harris Jr. picked up their production as well.

Harris had 18 points, tying a career-high. McCullar had 16 points to go along with the 13 rebounds he had in his double-double. And the bench, led by Pettiford’s six points, combined for 19 against the Wildcats (18-4, 6-3 in Big 12).

Wilson knows he doesn’t need to score 30+ points for Kansas to win. Like Self, Wilson thinks they’re at their best when all five guys on the court are looking to score. And that was illustrated Tuesday, albeit in a game plagued by so many foul calls that it averaged more than one per minute — another reason the bench play was so critical.

“We just understand that we had to come out and play today,” said Wilson, reflecting on what motivation he took from the loss earlier in the season against Kansas State. “How they ended last game wasn’t obviously the way we wanted it to go. And it was kind of just like a big rub in our face, them storming in and stuff. So, I always remember stuff like that, of course. And I just wanted to make sure today we got off to a great start, set the tone early and kind of controlled the game. And I feel like we did that for the most part.”

Maybe there’s a third chapter of the rivalry in store this season at the Big 12 tournament. Maybe in the title game. But for now, the win puts the Jayhawks back on track in the Big 12 after they went from 5-0 to 5-3.

Self isn’t sure what record will get it done for the Big 12’s regular season crown. As of Wednesday morning, Texas was atop the standings with a 7-2 mark in conference play, with four teams — including Kansas — at 6-3 and Baylor at 5-4. But Self doesn’t think anyone will go 9-0 across the second half of conference play.

“We’ve got to go play well at Ames,” said Self, referring to the Jayhawks’ upcoming game Saturday at Iowa State, “and play well at home Monday (against Texas).”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball is back on the right track in Big 12 Conference play