Bill Self on special senior night win for Kansas: ‘We needed that’

After what has been an inconsistent regular season for the Kansas Jayhawks, they ended the season on a high note, beating the Arizona Wildcats to end the regular season. It was a game that, for head coach Bill Self thought led to a special senior night.

It was an 83-76 win for the Jayhawks. Hunter Dickinson led the way with 33 points and a double-double. Three players in total would be in double-digits for scoring. For Bill Self, it was the Kansas seniors that stood out in how they played to win the game.

“They played great,” Bill Self said. “They played great. That was about as well as I can remember seniors playing on senior night. They carried us. But, yeah, it was nice. We needed that bad, and we needed our best player to carry us, and we needed everybody else to play well, really well, and that’s exactly what happened. Hunt was unbelievable.”

Late in the game, there was a moment when Dajuan Harris lobbed the ball to KJ Adams late in the game. It ended up being the last assist and points at home in their Kansas careers for the two players. In what was a special night, it became a special moment to end the regular season with an exclamation point.

“Well, it’s, it’s nice to me. It’s going to be special to them. I mean, think about that, KJ, gets a tip out and then,” Self said. “And then he’s caught many from Dajuan, and that’s the way it goes down at the end. What a pass at game point to make that play. That was a big time to play.”

With the win, which snapped a two-game losing streak, Kansas moved to 20-11 overall and 11-9 in Big 12 play. That amounted to a sixth-place finish in conference play, which is the worst regular season finish Self has had with the Jayhawks.

The regular season is over now, which means Kansas is going to turn its attention to the Big 12 Tournament. There, the Jayhawks have the nine-seed. That’s going to put them in Round 1 where they’ll take on the Colorado Buffaloes on March 11th. It will be a long road to winning the conference tournament if the Jayhawks will be able to do so.

In the latest bracketology, Kansas is listed as a seven-seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, with a deep Big 12 Tournament run, the Jayhawks could improve on that spot as well.