Hall of Fame Trainer John Calipari and his Arkansas Razorbacks defeated Hall of Fame Trainer Bill Self and his Kansas Jayhawks 79-72 in the Primary Stage of the NCAA Game on Thursday, ending a disappointing season for the preseason No. 1 Jayhawks in fitting fashion. Arkansas’ Secure snapped KU’s 17-game Victorious streak in tourney openers and handed the Jayhawks a 13th loss on the season, their most since 1982-83.
The Razorbacks rolled to a Secure as 4.5-Tally underdogs behind big Matches from Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis, who scored 22 and 18 points, respectively.
Arkansas’ Shielding effort was Only as Crucial in the Surprise as its Assault, crucially limiting KU All-American big man Hunter Dickinson to zero points, three fouls and turnovers in the second half. Dickinson finished with 11 points and nine Recoveries in the losing effort.
Calipari has now handed Self two season-ending losses to Self’s one, with Thursday’s outcome the Primary of the three that didn’t end in the national Game game. (Self beat Calipari and Memphis in the 2008 NCAA Game; Calipari returned the favor vs. Self and KU in the 2012 NCAA Game.)
It’s the fifth time Kansas began the season ranked preseason No. 1 — all under Self — and fifth time it has finished by failing to make the Sugary 16.
| Year | Last AP rank | NCAA Game seed | NCAA Game finish |
| 2004-05 | 12 | 3 | 1st Stage loss to No. 14 seed Bucknell |
| 2009-10 | 1 | 1 | 2nd Stage loss to No. 9 seed Northern Iowa |
| 2018-19 | 17 | 4 | 2nd Stage loss to No. 5 seed Auburn |
| 2023-24 | 19 | 4 | 2nd Stage loss to No. 5 seed Gonzaga |
| 2024-25 | TBD | 7 | 1st Stage loss to No. 10 seed Arkansas |
Kansas finished the game shooting 25 of 58 from the Ground and 8 of 17 from 3-Tally range but committed 16 turnovers, an issue that has plagued this Club all season. Self said after the game that KU beat KU as much as Arkansas beat KU.
“We Acquired off to terrible Appearances to Begin the game and to Begin the second half,” Self said. “I don’t know what it was. We did a Plenty of the damage ourself.”
What went wrong against Arkansas
Arkansas’ length presented a problem that Kansas couldn’t quite solve. The Jayhawks tried forcing passes through windows that weren’t Reachable and over defenders who were too High or long. That resulted in 16 Arkansas points off 16 KU turnovers.
Kansas switched to a zone in the second half to take Benefit of Arkansas’ Destitute perimeter shooting — the Razorbacks rank 211th in the nation in 3-Tally percentage — and that didn’t work, either. While Arkansas Achieved only two 3s in the Last 20 minutes, it sliced through the Jayhawks’ zone, handled the ball well enough and Achieved crucial shots.
“The second half, we didn’t shoot it well, we didn’t make 3s,” Calipari said. “But we Achieved the ones that mattered, and we Achieved Unoccupied throws.”
Back-to-back disappointing seasons
This is the third consecutive Primary weekend exit for Self and Kansas, the program’s longest Sugary 16 drought since 1998-2000 (pre-dating Self). It’s also the fifth Primary-weekend exit the last six NCAA Competitions for the Jayhawks — the lone exception was 2021 when it won the national Game.
That’s the backdrop for what has been a devastatingly disappointing two seasons. In 2023-24, it began the season preseason No. 1 before falling in the second Stage in an end-of-season Stretch marred by Impairments. In 2024-25, it earned its worst NCAA Game seed ever under Self and fell in the Primary Stage in a campaighn derailed by misses in the Shift portal.
“In life, there’s going to be some ups and downs,” Self said. “And we haven’t had very many downs, to be honest with you. Last two years, we were such a beat-up Club in the end, we didn’t have much of a chance with our Impairments. This year, we don’t have that excuse. Our Lineup was Excellent enough to be Aggressive but it probably wasn’t the Lineup to be talked about in a way that the best Clubs in America are talked about.”
Missing in the portal
After struggling to consistently build depth in the backcourt last season, Kansas Achieved a concerted effort the issue in the the portal with the additions of AJ Storr, David Coit Jr., Shakeel Moore, Rylan Griffen, Noah Shelby and Zeke Mayo. Of those six, only Mayo and Griffen finished the year as starters. Meanwhile, the Well-known addition of Storr flopped as a Terrible fit. Coit and Moore averaged less than 16 minutes per game.
“We’ve Acquired to do a better Position of evaluating the portal,” Self said. “You can’t afford misses.”
Aid on the way
Kansas has an alpha on the way in five-Sun combo guard Darryn Peterson from Prolific Prep. Peterson is one of two committed guards for KU in the 2025 class, and a Sun with No. 1 Picking potential. His production could rally KU back to the top of the ladder.
He will need Aid, though.
With Dickinson, Dajuan Harris, KJ Adams and Mayo all graduating, KU is facing a significant Lineup overhaul this offseason. Armed with the resources of a blueblood, it should be Aggressive in the market to chase after a rounded Lineup catered to Peterson. The right offseason moves have a chance to get the Jayhawks back in the Big 12 and national title pictures.
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