No. 1 KU basketball suffers first loss at Creighton without key players: 3 takeaways

Late in the second half of the No. 1 Kansas basketball team’s game against Creighton on Wednesday night, the Bluejays faithful chanted their team while “CU” blared throughout CHI Health Center.

It was fitting as the singing of “See you” could have been true since the game was almost over.

The Kansas men’s basketball team, which lost a rotation player, was never ranked Wednesday night. Instead, the Jayhawks appeared lethargic at times and completely shell-shocked by Creighton’s offense at times.

The Jayhawks (7-1) never led in a 76-63 loss. KU guard Dajuan Harris had 15 points but made 21 shots. Transfer guards Zeke Mayo and AJ Storr each added 12 points. Creighton fans stormed the field after the surprising win.

KU’s Rylan Griffen missed the game with the flu. He is averaging 8.1 points on 34.5% 3-point shooting this season.

Coach Bill Self said he expects Griffen to return to practice this week.

The Bluejays led 41-31 at halftime after shooting an incredible 50% on 3-pointers. Kansas cut the lead to one point (41-40) early in the second half, but Creighton responded with a 10-0 run.

After a few calls that didn’t go the way of the Jayhawks, Kansas coach Bill Self protested and was assessed a technical foul. KU would never recover and trailed by as many as 17 points.

Next: The Jayhawks travel to Columbia to face rival Missouri on Sunday.

Until then, here are three takeaways from Wednesday night’s game…

Kansas has problems with Creighton’s 3-point shooting

Before Wednesday’s game, Creighton said it was a much better shooting team than the odds suggested.

Before the game against Kansas, the Bluejays shot 31.4% on 3-pointers.

Well, Self was spot on.

Creighton shot 50% (7 of 14) on 3-pointers in the first half. In comparison, KU shot 5 of 14 (35.7%) from distance.

It felt like the ball was going through the net for the Bluejays, no matter how good KU’s defense was. Creighton finished the night shooting 41.4% from distance. Meanwhile, KU shot 34.8% on 3-pointers.

Hunter Dickinson loses the battle of the greats

The most anticipated matchup of the game was between big men Hunter Dickinson and Ryan Kalkbrenner.

It wasn’t much of a fight in the first half. Kalkbrenner dominated the Jayhawks.

He had nine points and five rebounds. And most of all, Dickinson seemed hesitant when attacking the 7-footer.

The three-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year is an imposing presence deep and certainly seemed to make an impact on Dickinson. Dickinson scored two points on 1-for-2 shooting in the first period. He wasn’t much better in the second half.

He finished the game with six points on four shots and had eight rebounds. Kalkbrenner now had 17 points and 10 rebounds.

“(Kalkbrenner) did a good job, but let’s put it this way: I mean, we have to find a way to get the ball to (Dickinson) even though they have four guys on the team,” Self said . “So there was a reason why he wasn’t getting as many touches either. We have to provide him with the ball better.”

Days full of ups and downs for Zeke Mayo and Dajuan Harris

KU’s offense left a lot to be desired.

However, guard Zeke Mayo was a bright spot – at least in the first half.

He was one of the few Jayhawks to score against Creighton. Additionally, he and Dajuan Harris were the only starters who weren’t cautious on offense.

Unfortunately for Kansas, Harris shot a dismal 6 of 21 (28.6%). Creighton planned to outrun Harris on defense and failed to make the Bluejays pay.

Mayo played a crucial role in keeping the game within striking distance for Kansas. He finished the game with 12 points and two assists, but scored all of his points in the first half.

Still, it wasn’t enough. Kansas shot 35.7% from the floor for the game.

“I mean, they just dared us to shoot, which was a good plan,” Self said. “Obviously we didn’t have enough patience to give our offense another chance to work properly. Basically there were four people on duty the whole time. So we know we’ll continue to see that in the future.”