Shorthanded Kansas Jayhawks survive late scare from Baylor. Here’s how they did it

Kansas guard Nick Timberlake earned the loudest roar of the night from the Allen Fieldhouse crowd.

He hit arguably the biggest shot of his KU career, a 3-pointer to put Kansas up nine over Baylor on Saturday. Naturally, he grinned as he’d forced a Baylor timeout.

In a season in which Timberlake has struggled immensely, he helped the shorthanded Jayhawks pull out a win over the Bears ... even if there were moments of stress for both Timberlake and his Jayhawk teammates.

No. 4 Kansas defeated No. 13 Baylor 64-61.

The Jayhawks led by as many as 13 and took a 34-28 lead to the break. Kansas led by 11 with six minutes to play before things got significantly closer.

In fact, it was a one-possession game in the last 30 seconds. And things got crazy.

Timberlake turned the ball over with 14.2 seconds to play — KU led by 3 — which allowed BU to attempt a game-tying shot. Baylor’s Jayden Nunn missed a wide-open 3-pointer after Timberlake left him in the corner to help on a drive.

Perhaps atoning for that mistake, Timberlake got the rebound and was fouled, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Baylor’s Ja’Kobe Bryant got the rebound with about two seconds left and missed a 3-pointer as the game ended.

The Jayhawks were down to seven scholarship players for Saturday’s game — Kansas coach Bill Self announced on KU’s pregame show that starter Kevin McCullar (knee bruise) and Jamari McDowell (illness) were out. Timberlake started in McCullar’s place.

Hunter Dickinson scored 15 points, while Dajuan Harris added 14 as KU (19-5, 7-4 Big 12) improved to 20-1 in Lawrence against Baylor.

Up next: Kansas will travel to Lubbock to play Texas Tech.

Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s game.

KU’s defense contains Baylor’s shooting

Heading into the game, the Bears were shooting a blistering 42.1% from deep to lead the nation in 3-point percentage.

That percentage will certainly drop after Saturday’s game.

The Jayhawks held Baylor in check, especially in the first half. KU did an excellent job of getting in Baylor shooters’ air space. The Jayhawks didn’t give any open looks to quality shooters — until late — and made sure to cover Baylor players in transition.

One thing Kansas did do: leave a low-volume 3-point shooter in Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua (0.5 3PA per game) open, as Dickinson, who was guarding him, protected the paint. Tchamwa Tchatchoua shot and missed two wide-open 3-pointers in the first half

Baylor shot 3-for-10 from deep in the first half. For the game, Baylor shot 8-for-26, 30.8%.

Saturday marked one of the more impressive defensive displays by the Jayhawks, who have struggled to contain the deep ball in conference play.

KU guard Nick Timberlake shows promise

Due to the absence of McCullar, an opportunity to play major minutes emerged for Timberlake, who started in McCullar’s place.

He played 31 minutes on Saturday, his most of the season.

After a quiet first half in which Timberlake didn’t score on two shots, he had a couple huge plays in the second half.

As Kansas went on a run to gain some separation, Timberlake canned a 3-pointer to put KU up 50-41. It was his first made 3-pointer since KU’s win over Oklahoma State on Jan. 30.

Not much later, he had a steal and took it end to end for a fast-break dunk.

If McCullar is out for an extended period, the Jayhawks desperately need something from Timberlake. His play in the second half — outside of the final 30 seconds — could be a turning point this season for him.

He finished with eight points on 3-for-8 shooting from the floor. He also had two rebounds, with one pivotal rebound late.

KU forced Baylor into (a lot of) turnovers

Despite the Jayhawks getting severely outrebounded (42-25) and only shooting 5-for-21 (23.8%) from 3, Kansas still won.

Why? A big reason was KU’s ability to force BU to make mistakes. The Jayhawks did an excellent job cutting off passing lanes, having quick hands and forcing the Bears to make dangerous passes.

It led to a massive advantage in turnovers (21-8). KU also had an 12-point lead in points off turnovers (17-5).

Every point proved pivotal for the Jayhawks. The turnovers made the difference in this game.