Bill Self stresses importance of Kentucky win

Kansas escaped Lexington with a 77-68 win over Kentucky Saturday. The win snapped a three-game skid for the Jayhawks and earned them one final non-conference resume-building win for the selection committee to consider.

Head coach Bill Self discussed the importance of taking down the Wildcats at home, and how his team was able to overcome their deficiencies and prevail in one of the most hostile Rupp Arena crowds in recent memory.

“Well, I can’t speak for Kentucky and I don’t want to. But there are some similarities in pride that existed in both places. The win they got at Tennessee was very similar to the win we got tonight,” Self said postgame. “They didn’t have a lot of momentum at that moment, and we didn’t either. And they probably put together as good of a performance as we’ve seen on the road.

“I don’t know that ours was that good tonight, but considering where we were, and you look out there, we’re not the biggest team. We don’t have a lot of depth. There are some things that we don’t do great, but our guys do compete and they fight and I think there’s just a lot of pride within it.”

Kansas’ use of effective ball screens was the demise of Kentucky’s defense. They couldn’t stop KJ Adams down low — shooting 80 percent and scoring 17 points — and star forward Jalen Wilson was scoring at will with 22 points and eight rebounds in 38 minutes played.

The Jayhawks will look to carry this momentum into Tuesday night for their next matchup in what is a blockbuster matchup between rival Kansas State at 8 p.m. ET inside Allen Fieldhouse live on ESPN+. It will be the second edition of the Sunflower Showdown, as the first meeting saw K-State defeat Kansas 83-82 in overtime.