What happened in KU Jayhawks' Big 12 blowout loss to Houston? Some takeaways

Shreyas Laddha, The Kansas City Star on Mar 14, 2026

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The look on the face of Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball coach Bill Self said it all.

For most of the second half of Friday night’s semifinal game against Houston at T-Mobile Center, the Hall of Fame coach covered his mouth with his knuckles, his silver wedding band glinting under the lights.

His eyes were fiery, his face a sunburnt shade of red. He yelled throughout the first half of the Jayhawks’ Big 12 tournament semifinal.

After halftime, however, as KU fell ever further behind the Cougars, he showed less emotion. Perhaps not even Self could believe what he was watching. Not only was KU losing, his Jayhawks were in the process of doing so in historic fashion.

The final score: No. 2-seeded Houston 69, No. 3-seeded Kansas 47.

The optics were not good. KU started the second half 0-for-16 from the field, going more than 8 minutes without a bucket. It was a true blowout at that point.

Houston advances to face No. 1-seeded Arizona, a buzzer-beating winner over Iowa State in Friday’s first semifinal, in Saturday’s 5 p.m. championship game at T-Mobile Center.

The Jayhawks (23-10), meanwhile, will wait for Selection Sunday to learn their seeding and region for the NCAA Tournament. KU went into the Big 12 tourney as an expected No. 3 or No. 4 seed for the NCAAs.

Freshman star Darryn Peterson led KU Friday with 14 points (3-for-11 shooting), plus four rebounds. Houston’s Kingston Flemings scored a team-best 21 points with four rebounds.

The first half was all Houston, as KU was never able to take a lead. UH led 33-25 at halftime. Things got progressively worse for the Jayhawks in the second half, with the Cougars outscoring KU 36-22 after the intermission.

Up next: Selection Sunday will deliver KU its seeding and region assignment for the NCAA Tournament.

Until then, here are three takeaways from Friday’s Big 12 semifinal …

KU’s offense was abysmal

Look, it’s no secret the Jayhawks’ offense isn’t the best.

It was another level of bad in the first half against Houston.

It felt like every single shot Kansas attempted was a difficult one. On the rare occasion that KU did find an open look, a miss typically followed.

Kansas shot 8-for-26 (30.8%) from the field in the first half, 25% for the game. And digging a little deeper, the numbers are even worse.

Kansas shot 4-for-15 (26.7%) on 2-pointers, including 1-for-2 on layups and 2-for-2 on dunks. The lone bright spot? KU was 4-for-11 (36.4%) on 3-pointers.

As mentioned previously, KU’s woes only deepened in the second half. The Jayhawks didn’t make a field goal until Bidunga dunked with 10:31 left.

For the game, guard Melvin Council Jr. shot 1-for-14 from the floor in a team-high 35 minutes.

As a team, Kansas shot 19.4% from the field in the half and 24.6% for the game.

Bad numbers.

Bill Self makes a tactical change

KU’s Self started his usual lineup of Peterson, Bidunga, Tre White, Bryson Tiller and Melvin Council Jr.

That didn’t work out so well in the first half. Tiller, in particular, struggled. Not only did he shoot 1-for-5 (20%), but when he was on the floor, the Jayhawks were outscored by 15 points.

In the second half, Self started guard Elmarko Jackson instead of Tiller. And that didn’t work very well, either.

So next up were some of Self’s least-used players — Kohl Rosario, Paul Mbiya and Jayden Dawson all saw minutes. And that was a sign of desperation or resignation for Self and the Jayhawks.

Tiller played a total of 14 minutes, zero in the second half.

Kohl Rosario the bright spot

There weren’t many positives for KU in this one. The Jayhawks were pretty terrible all around.

There were some encouraging signs, however.

The best? The play of Rosario. It’s no secret the freshman has had a tumultuous time in Lawrence thus far. He started the 2025-26 season as a starter but struggled with the shooting that had made him such a touted prospect when he was coming out of high school.

The rest of the story you know: Rosario went from the starting lineup to a spot way down the bench.

And then came Friday, when he had one of his best games in ages. Not only did he hit two 3-pointers, he also grabbed four rebounds. He finished with eight points in 11 productive minutes.

This is an encouraging sign for a freshman who has had a very difficult season.

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