Kansas basketball loses Battle 4 Atlantis finale versus Tennessee in ‘learning experience’
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PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — In the aftermath of Kansas men’s basketball’s win Wednesday against NC State, Jayhawks head coach Bill Self talked about wanting their Battle 4 Atlantis trip to be a learning experience.
Self envisioned playing three high-major games in the tournament like No. 3 Kansas would. A matchup with Wisconsin followed Thursday in the Bahamas, before a game Friday against No. 21 Tennessee. The contests would give the Jayhawks, in his mind, a chance to come together and find out who they are.
While Kansas handled those initial two learning experiences well, Self saw his team fall short in the tournament’s championship game against the Volunteers (5-1). The Jayhawks (6-1) lost 64-50 in a game they never led. A three-game stretch that brought with it a healthy share of highlights, wrapped up with a defeat.
“Well, I think that we played a team tonight that was older and more mature and obviously played stronger and tougher, and we didn’t handle the situation near as well as what I would hope a poised team would," Self said. "But it was a great learning experience for us and I think we found out a lot about ourselves, and how we need to improve on how we play moving forward — which hopefully will help us in the long run.”
Previously:For Bill Self, the Battle 4 Atlantis is about Kansas men's basketball discovering its identity
Jayhawks didn't match physicality of Tennessee
Kansas rebounded from learning experiences well last season, on the way to a share of the Big 12 Conference’s regular season title, the outright Big 12 tournament championship and, of course, a national title too. This is a younger, less experienced team, though. This will be the first time these Jayhawks will be asked to recover from a loss.
Neither redshirt junior forward Jalen Wilson nor redshirt junior guard Dajuan Harris Jr., veteran leaders for Kansas, were able to be effective as they typically are. The Jayhawks didn’t match the Volunteers’ physicality inside and the rebounding results illustrate that. Kansas’ margin for error is small in certain areas, and miscues compounded in this defeat against Tennessee.
It wasn’t the shellacking the Jayhawks suffered last season at home against Kentucky. No, that game against the Wildcats, which finished 80-62, was over far more quickly and much more brutally. But when Tennessee senior guard Santiago Vescovi was hitting shots like he was, on the way to being named the tournament’s most valuable player, it certainly looked as if that might happen again.
More:Kansas basketball vs. Wisconsin recap: Kansas wins 69-68 in overtime
“It’s difficult when they do have length and stuff like that, but honestly if we would have gave it a better chance at getting those bigger guys moving a little bit more instead of kind of settling — I know, myself, I ran into traffic a lot and threw up some stuff,” Wilson said. “So, I feel like if we were able to get them out of place and not just had them standing there just waiting to contest a layup, that could have gave us some better chances at finishing at the rim.”
More:Kansas basketball vs. Tennessee recap: Kansas loses 64-50 in Battle 4 Atlantis final
Challenges lie ahead for Kansas
Kansas can get right, to an extent, with a game after the weekend on Monday against Texas Southern. But the Jayhawks will quickly revert back to a challenging stretch. On Dec. 1 they face Seton Hall, before going to Missouri on Dec. 10 and welcoming Indiana in on Dec. 17.
The Big 12 slate starts in just over a month, and if what’s happened so far this season is any indication, it’ll be a tough league to win again. That’s not just because of the likes of Baylor or Texas, but because of how deep the conference has already proven itself to be.
The non-conference slate has been tougher so far this season than it was a year ago for Kansas. Last season, the Jayhawks weren’t tested in the same way. Maybe that will have them better prepared for the tough tests to come.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Defeat by Tennessee a 'learning experience' for Kansas basketball
