The Kansas Jayhawks were considered an invincible team this season. Riding on Bill Self’s tactics, they won 7 straight games until they met the unranked Creighton Bluejays on Wednesday. 63-76 on board came as an unexpected defeat for the top-ranked team, thanks to Pop Issacs’ best efforts of a season-high 27 points. But Bluejays’ glory only brought scrutiny to the AP no.1 ranked team, exposing their issues.

On Wednesday’s episode of The Field Of 68: After Dark, Rob Dauster analyzed the Jayhawks’ performance and what went astray for them.

Dauster explained, “My concern with Kansas is that they are a little bit schemeable because to the shooting at the point guard spot and the shooting with KJ Adams and may be a little bit of the issues, you have because of spacing as a result of that.” He also pointed out that the Bluejays have played just 47 zonal possessions for the past 2 seasons, but against Kansas, instead of going man to man, they went zonal.

“They played the first eight minutes in zone and completely took Kansas out of the rhythm. To me, that’s a sign of that one, they don’t really respect a lot of the shooters, and they will live and die with those guys taking jump shots instead of being able to get Hunter Dickinson a post touch or being able to get KJ Adams in those short role actions of the ball screens where he is such a killer,” Dauster remarked.

The Bluejays were dominant from the get-go. At around 8 minutes, they had an 18-11 lead that continued into the second half as the first ended with a 41-31 margin. While the Jayhawks tried coming close and shortening their trail, the Bluejays, propelled by Pop Isaacs’ consecutive threes, managed to enlarge their lead to 49-40. Their mainstay, Dickinson was only able to attempt 4 field goals and score in 2 while going zero from beyond the arc.

There lies the concern for the Jayhawks.

“Those guys took a bind 56 shots tonight. That was Greg McDermott saying, ‘Go ahead. If your guards are gonna beat us, we will live with that.'”

The Jayhawks on the whole attempted 70 shots but could only score in 25 of them. While Mayop hit 5-of-13 field goals, Storr scored 4-of-13, Harris Jr. hit 6-of-21, whereas Coit could only score in 3 out of the 9 he attempted. They had a combined 56 shots. Their 3-point shooting was no better either, with 8 to their opponents’ 12.

Shooting has been a concern for Kansas since the start to their season. Their 3-point percentage over the first five games sat at 30.5 percent. They even went mere 6 from 24 in the game against Howard and it has gotten no better. So it was the topic of concern and discussion among Dauster and the crew on the podcast, conveying that the Bluejays were confident against the flaw. But Dauster doesn’t undermine the former’s potential. Just the aspect they need to work on.

“The Kansas are awesome, they are a top-five team in America. I don’t think you can argue that. I do think that this is a flaw that something of a little bit exploitable, if something of that makes sense,” Dauster added. Bluejays used it to their advantage.

Greg McDermott is proud of his team

The Bluejays were ranked in the AP men’s basketball polls before dropping out this week, following three straight losses. However, the Greg McDermott team knew they could make a comeback, especially since they had defeated last year’s Champions the UConn Huskies during the 2023-24 season. Thus, determined to make a comeback, the Bluejays took the court against the Jayhawks and we know what followed.

“It was going to take a special effort on our part on both ends of the floor. Guys are beat up, guys are sick, and they found a way. I’m really proud of my team… We beat not just a great team, a great program. This is the building No. 1 teams go to die, evidently,” McDermott told Fox Sports.

They never allowed the Jayhawks to lead offensively which was surprising since the Jayhawks are the top-ranked team. Plus, it was the first time in three years that the Jayhawks lost a regular season game against an unranked team. Hopefully, Self will take lessons from here.