The Good, Bad, And Ugly: Kansas Takes A Tough Loss To Cincinnati

The Kansas Jayhawks dropped a highly anticipated game against the Cincinnati Bearcats

The Kansas Jayhawks just finished up with their first game of the BIG 12 tournament in which they played the Cincinnati Bearcats who defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers to advance to this game today. The Jayhawks surprisingly lost this game as many believed that they would walk away with a win as the winner of this game advances to play the Baylor Bears in another tough matchup. The final score of the game was 72-52 in favor of the Bearcats.

To see what the Blue Wings Rising staff predicted before the game click below.

Cincinnati vs Kansas Basketball Predictions: How shorthanded is too shorthanded?

Below are the good, bad, and ugly from Kansas’s loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats.

The Good

It was no secret that the Jayhawks would be without both star players Hunter Dickinson and McCullar. McCullar has been the stand-alone guard and has made a name for himself nationally as one of the best defenders in the world. Dickinson has been a terror for anyone in his path as he has provided great reasoning to believe he is a top two big man alongside Purdue’s Zach Edey who has been on a rampage himself. This Team Performed fairly well considering they were very shorthanded in this game.

Without those players, the game was going to be all about who stepped up. K.J. Adams answered the bell, as he was by far the highlight of the night for the Jayhawks. His 22 points matched a career high and he was the only consistent bright spot.

Jamari McDowell was a pleasant surprise on the night as well.

The Bad

Kansas struggled to play defense. Defense felt non-existent on Dan Skillings who had 25 points. Coming from someone who knows the Bearcats fairly well considering I cover both the Jayhawks and Bearcats I can confirm that Skillings doesn’t always have these types of nights. But as I mentioned in the predictions if he gets hot HE GETS HOT. Kansas messed around and let the guy get hot that’s for sure.

The Ugly

The shooting as a whole was below average but the three-point shooting was nothing short of poor. The Jayhawks shot below 20% from three on the night and YOU CAN NOT DO THAT in big-time march games.

The Jayhawks will now sit these next few days out and likely try to reconnect before the big dance kicks off. You can’t help but worry about the Jayhawks seeding following this one though.