Bill Self talked about the second half comeback where the Jayhawks turned a big deficit into a blowout win.

Self said they were able to get mismatches and force Baylor into playing bad. He talked about the former players coming back and looking ahead to TCU on Monday night.

See everything he had to say in the win over Baylor.

After first half like that, how much trust Juan, to help bring you guys out in the second half…

Self: I totally trust him. Juan's not vocal, though. Sometimes, he needs something negative to happen, or something to, maybe, create him to get out of his comfort zone a little bit. Today in that first half, we were on an island. There was no chemistry. There was nothing that we were doing that would make us look like a team, I don't think, the first half. Then, the second half, that's a good team we played. That was the equivalent of the Miami Elite Eight second half. That was a very well-played game against the top 10 team that had all the momentum. When you're behind, like that, you need something good to happen early. Heck, it goes from 13-7 in a minute and a half, and then, it's anyone's game. We took advantage of it.

In the second half, you didn't switch. Did you feel like you were able to create some mismatches on the other end…

Self: Yeah. We did. Certain guys that you probably want to try to drive, especially through foul problems and things like that. We tried to take advantage of throwing it inside, even though we don't throw it inside a ton, but throw it inside because the switches allowed us to put a little guard on a big guy, a lot of times, and just like the little out of bounds underplay. It's not anything great, but it's just an easy basket you don't have to earn. They picked on us the first half, and we were able to get some of those advantages second half.

What kind of luxury is it to have a guy like Dejuan and Kevin who can guard the other team’s best players…

Self: Kevin's not 100%. He's hurting. That was one thing that I was nervous about, playing that way. Juan can't play 40 minutes that way. It was probably better for us, even though it sucked the first half, to play the way we did, from a tactical standpoint, to allow us to have enough energy to finish the game because our guys couldn't have played... five more minutes, we would've been wasted. I thought it's pretty nice having one out there.

Coming back like that, was there something you learned from this team…

Self: You know what? That's a fair question. I would answer it, probably, "No." I've known this about this team all year long. It's happened too many times. I don't think we're always going to play well. We're not as good a basketball team, from a tactical standpoint, as last year's basketball team, yet. We're not. From a competitive standpoint, this team is on an equivalent, or on par, with that team. Even though we don't play as consistently well, I think that when we play well, and we can make other people not play as well, and that's what happened the first half. The key to win the game wasn't us to play better than Baylor, the second half, because if we just played better than Baylor, and we'd lost by nine. The key was to make them not play good at all.

We took pride in that. You can do that and not make shots. That's what happened today. We didn't make shots. Even the second half I guess, we were 5 and 10 the second half, but Gradey and Jalen didn't make anything. The pride is that, well, if they can't score, we'll come back. I don't know what it was. They went about 13 minutes with about 11 points or 12 points, something like that. We guarded them second half.

TCU put up 100 points today. What is the key for you guys to make them play badly…

Self: Well, they killed us the first time, in every way. They were as good for 40 minutes, the first time, as Baylor was for 20, tonight. The biggest thing with TCU, in my opinion, I haven't seen the game, is transition defense. They are so good in transition, and when Miles is not playing, it's a totally different team. Of course, he's back now, and I don't know what he did today, but I assume he spearheaded everything. We know we're going to play a really good TCU team on Monday. I wish we had another day, just so we can catch our breath a little bit. We haven't talked about the league race at all, but now, you can actually talk about the league race because we're down to four games, and everything's so magnified.

What did it mean to you to see Ochai, Mitch, and those guys? Those guys actually were at the tunnel when the guys came out on the floor, cheering as the guys ran out…

Self: Well, I said this earlier, and I'm not trying to be funny, but Teahan and Mitch we see them all the time. That wasn't as big a deal. I haven't seen Och since he left. I think I've seen CB once. Remy flew in for the game, and has already flown back out. That takes a sacrifice to do that. I didn't get a chance to see Remy. Those guys are loved here. I didn't see what happened during the timeout. I assume they were introduced, but I love whenever our ex-players come back. We had a lot back today. Cole was back, too, today, if I'm not mistaken.

You’ve said in the past, there's no 15 or 17-point plays, but how do you keep your guys engaged…

Self: Well, I did a crap job the first half. We weren't very engaged. We're down 17. I guess we had to play well the last couple of minutes to get it to 13. Then they were unbelievable the first half. I mean, that's the hardest team to guard there is, the first half. But when we let them get to the right hand, they took advantage of different things, and our energy level stunk and theirs was great. That's what happens.

Teams with better energy levels usually play better. In the second half, it kind of flipped, and our energy level was great. We did so many good, positive things and that's without our two best scorers making shots, so I'm really proud of our guys. We rebounded it. Juan and Kev did such a good job on Cryer and Flagler. First half we switched, we thought that was the way to do it. Second half, we said, "Nah, you guys stay connected," and that was so much better.

Can you explain 55-26 in the second half simply…

Self: No. I mean, they didn't get a lot of good looks, but the good looks they got, they didn't make them. Where the bad looks they got in the first half, they even made them, of the hard looks. Kind of law of percentages prevailed. But Dajuan Harris and Kevin McCullar, that's how I'd say it. They set the whole tone defensively, and then of course you worry about the right things, you shoot the ball better. Jalen Wilson was much better second half. Our pace was better. The first half, the way they guarded us the first half, was switch, stay between the man and the basket, play gaps. And the tendency is, when you're open, is to stand and that's the worst thing you can do against defenses that are sagging like that. And so, our movement and our ball movement was so much better second half. To me, that's the biggest difference offensively.

What was the biggest difference defensively in the second half?

Self: Energy. Yeah, we were turned up. The thing about it is, in this building, our fans are great, great. I mean, they played a huge role in us winning today, but you got to actually do something to get the fans to have something to be excited about. And that usually comes from energy. You don't have to make shots to get people excited. You get people excited by playing with the unbelievable energy and playing the right way and unselfish. And today when we got punched in the mouth, we didn't fight back I didn't think the first half. But second half, yeah, we delivered most of the blows second half.

How much of Jalen playing is pure determination…

Self: Well, the thing about Jalen, he was as poor as he's been all year long the first half. I mean, he missed two uncontested layups with nobody around. And that affected his energy, defensively, and frustration and all that stuff. I mean, you couldn't had scripted how we could look worse I don't think the first half. In the second half all he did was do one thing, and that's just compete. And I don't want to say his will's better than others, that that's not the right thing to say because I can't speak to others. But his will is as good as anybody that we've had play here in a long time. He's just a winner. He's a winner. He doesn't make shots. He just finds a way to get 21 and 13. So he's just a winner.

Dajuan rook one shot in the first half and then starting shooting more…

Self: The way they guard us, the first half when people stand, it's a crowded house. He can't go anywhere. And the second half, at least the ball and everybody moved and then he was able to create creases where he could drive downhill or whatever. But the thing about Juan is, and I actually hope people continue playing this way, he's a really good shooter when he is wide open. He just doesn't take many. And today, those threes he made in the second half is who he is. And then, of course, have nine assists and one turnover and then play unbelievable defense. He was the player of the game.