Vahe Gregorian: Why Kansas' latest loss (to UConn) leaves Bill Self not mad, but pensive

Vahe Gregorian, The Kansas City Star on Dec 3, 2025

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LAWRENCE, Kan. — As Kansas coach Bill Self assessed what went awry in 21st-ranked KU’s 61-56 loss to No. 5 Connecticut on Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse, he had plenty of material to work with.

The Jayhawks couldn’t convert a chance to tie it down three in the final 25 seconds, couldn’t get vital stops down the stretch and were outrebounded 25-10 in the second half.

In a category of its own was the hideous shooting: After hitting 12 of their first 23 field-goal attempts, the Jayhawks missed 28 of their last 34.

At various times in his postgame news conference, Self referred to “bad offense” with unforced turnovers and the ball sticking and playing one-on-one instead of sharing the ball.

Sometimes, they called plays and never even got to the play itself — an about-face from the vibe last time out in a comeback win over now-No. 13 Tennessee. Down 12 in that game last week in Las Vegas, Self said, he encouraged the team to keep at it because they were “playing the right way.”

On Tuesday, he didn’t even feel that way when KU was leading.

For all that, though, this wasn’t a seething Self after Kansas fell to 6-3 as it awaits the return of the generational sort of talent embodied in freshman Darryn Peterson — who missed his seventh straight game with a hamstring strain.

(Self continues to say he’s close to returning, and perhaps he’ll at last be back on Sunday against Missouri at the T-Mobile Center. If not, the notion that he’s right on the verge is going to start sounding like Chiefs coach Andy Reid calling former safety Eric Berry “literally day-to-day” for months before he finally returned in 2018.)

Instead, Self at least outwardly continues to embrace something he hasn’t had much time for in the past: patience.

Because he sees a lot to like in this team.

Because he gets that it’s just different with Peterson, a transformative force in the making.

And because this group is in its embryonic phase of playing together with only one man back (Fiory Bidunga) from the nine-deep rotation last season.

Considering the raucous atmosphere at Allen for their first blue-blood game here this season, Self reckoned that part of what stifled KU stemmed from the atmosphere and “trying too hard, that kind of stuff.”

“You’ve got to be at that magic level where your energy and your enthusiasm and concentration and attention to details is all at a crossroads,” he said.

In this case, the enthusiasm and energy were obscured by the absence of concentration and attention to detail.

All stuff that didn’t seem to so much dismay Self as make him look toward the big picture.

It’s all about how KU finishes, not the way it starts. A point Self has been conscious of given the last few postseasons:

Since winning the 2022 national title, KU is just 2-3 in NCAA Tournament play — including a first-round loss last season after Self thought the team peaked in … November.

Not that winning now and winning later are mutually exclusive.

But Self figures playing the rugged schedule — now including losses at current No. 16 North Carolina and against fourth-ranked Duke at Madison Square Garden — is going to gird this team for the long run.

And not just as some sort of hope or guess.

But because he knows this team can defend, a pillar of his best teams, and he knows it can rebound … even if it wasn’t apparent Tuesday.

He’s seen it move the ball, and, heck, why shouldn’t it handle this sort of atmosphere better the more it plays in these sorts of games?

“We’ll be better because of it,” he said.

No, this wasn’t Self accepting a loss.

It was him expecting more to come from it because of highly coachable, correctable points and self-inflicted issues overlaid on a baseline it’s clear he likes.

Of course, correctable isn’t the same as being corrected.

And it’s also true that the ceiling figures to only be so high without Peterson — and that when he presumably returns soon-ish there will be some fresh adjustments to be made.

But this loss isn’t remotely defining for KU unless the lessons of the night get squandered. It’s just that it needs to be a link in a chain and not merely a forgettable loss.