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By Matthew Couden
Contributing Writer
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The Kansas Jayhawks suffered a brutal 23-point loss at the hands of their division rivals, the Arizona Wildcats, on Saturday.
Often-criticized Kansas star and potential No. 1 NBA Draft Pick Darryn Peterson contributed 24 points in 31 minutes for the Jayhawks. He also grabbed five rebounds, along with dishing out three assists and blocking two shots.
Unfortunately, the Jayhawks as a whole shot just 34 percent for the game, while the No. 2 team, Arizona, dominated them on the boards and had 23 more free throws. That was enough for head coach Bill Self to label his team's latest performance as "soft" in Saturday's game as they look towards the Big 12 Tournament.
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"I just thought that they were so, so aggressive, and we played really soft," Self told reporters at his postgame press conference.
“Obviously, home court makes a big difference. When we played at our place, we made them not play great, and we kind of uglied the game up, and there was nothing that uglied it up tonight,” he said.
Earlier this season, Kansas defeated Arizona 82-78 at home, but didn't have the sort of game they needed at the Wildcats' home arena.
Self said his team may have played 10 minutes on Saturday when they looked great, but Arizona played great for 30 minutes and "physically wore [Kansas] down."
He was also asked for his thoughts on Peterson's performance in the second half after a "slower start in the first half," prompting Self to defend his star player and what he contributed.
The Jayhawks coach said he agreed he may have had a slow start and missed some shots, but didn't believe Peterson played poorly during the game.
“Was it a slow start because he missed shots, or because he played poorly? I don’t think he played poorly. I just think he missed shots,” Kansas’ head coach said.
Self said that despite Peterson getting them “close” in one part of the game, the Jayhawks went “braindead” and ultimately lost. He also indicated that when the game got "out of reach," he started to think about resting players for their next game.
The Jayhawks, now 21-8 and fourth in the Big 12, will visit the Arizona State Sun Devils on Tuesday. They then wrap up their regular season at home against Kansas State on Saturday, March 7, before preparing for the Big 12 Tournament.
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