A season that began with so much hope and promise ended on the first night of the NCAA Tournament in a location that no one could have possibly envisioned back in November.

Kansas kicked off the 2024-25 season as the top-ranked team in college basketball. For the second straight year, Bill Self and his staff assembled a team that, on paper, had all the makings of a legitimate National Championship container.

That same Kansas team, the one that beat North Carolina, Michigan State, and Duke early on in the season, suffered a heartbreaking loss to Arkansas on Thursday night.

A year ago, Kansas entered the NCAA Tournament as a four-seed and defeated Samford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Kansas, two days later, fell to Gonzaga, the No. 5 seed, 89-68.

This time around, Kansas arrived in Providence, Rhode Island, as the No. 7 seed in the West Region. Arkansas, playing without its leading scorer and rebounder, rallied to defeat the Jayhawks, 79-72.

Kansas, after trailing by three points at the half and by as many as 11 points early in the second half, took a one-point lead, its first of the second half, following a bucket by guard AJ Storr.

Following fouls by Dajuan Harris and David Coit, along with a missed layup by Karter Knox, Kansas grabbed a three-point lead over Arkansas when senior KJ Adams connected on a jumper near the basket.

With 4:55 left in the game, it felt like Kansas was close to seizing all of the momentum.

While nobody knew it at the time, Kansas, despite leading by three and in possession of the basketball, was closing in on a heartbreaking loss that would ultimately signal the end of the season for Self’s squad.

Kansas, up by three points and in possession of the basketball, had a chance to create some separation late in the game against Arkansas, but when KJ Adams went down with an injury, the Jayhawks simply weren’t the same team in the closing minutes of the contest.

When Adams left the game with 3:10 left on the clock, Kansas led Arkansas by three points. Looking to increase its three-point lead after Adams left the game, a steal and layup by Boogie Fland cut the deficit to one point with 2:56 on the clock

Arkansas, with 2:14 left in the game, took a one-point lead following two made free throws by Jonas Aidoo. On the very next possession, a bad pass by Zeke Mayo led to a steal by D.J. Wagner, which led to a made three-pointer by Johnell Davis.

Kansas, with 1:23 remaining, pulled to within two points after AJ Storr converted two free throws. Immediately after the two made free throws, Arkansas turned the ball over to Kansas, but the Jayhawks, down just two points, gave the ball right back to the Razorbacks.

Johnell Davis was fouled with 44 seconds left in the game and, after hitting both free throws, increased the Arkansas lead over Kansas to four points.

Hunter Dickinson came up short on his three-point attempt, which led to Rylan Griffen fouling D.J. Wagner.

Kansas, now down by six points with 19 seconds left, pulled to within three points, 75-72 on a made three-pointer by Griffen.

Arkansas made it interesting for a short period of time, as John Calipari was forced to call back-to-back timeouts after struggling to get the ball in bounds.

In the final 10 seconds of Thursday night's NCAA Tournament opener between Kansas and Arkansas, the Jayhawks missed a three-pointer and simply ran out of time as the Razorbacks closed out the game from the free-throw line.

There was a point late in the second half when it felt like Kansas had finally gotten over the hump. Facing an 11-point deceit early in the second half, Kansas hit Arkansas with a 12-2 run and, during that time, appeared to have all of the momentum.

Instead of moving on to face St. John’s on Saturday, Kansas suffered a heartbreaking defeat — a defeat that put an end to their season.

“Well, I thought it was a good basketball game if you're a fan,” said Bill Self after the game. “I thought we tried really hard and the zone kind of gave us a chance there in the second half, but we got off to terrible starts to start the game and to start the second half and I don't know what it was. We finished the game up three with 3:30, something like that, and three out of four possessions, we turned it over.

“So we did a lot of the damage ourself, but their length bothered us all night long,” he added. “We had open passes and couldn't pass over them, and they got steals or deflections off of plays that could potentially be layups for us. We fought hard, and, of course, AJ (Storr) had his best game of the season, and Zeke (Mayo) was great throughout. Disappointing, but certainly, I thought we gave a great effort.”

In what turned out to be the final game of the season, Zeke Mayo (18), AJ Storr (15), KJ Adam (13), and Hunter Dickinson (11) led the way offensively for Kansas. Dajuan Harris tallied eight points, dished out seven assists, committed two turnovers, and was credited with two steals in 30 minutes of action.

Rylan Griffen added three points and, off the bench, Storr led the way with 15 points, while Flory Bidunga added four points, five rebounds, and two blocked shots.

Not only did KU’s season come to an end on Thursday night, but senior guard KJ Adams, according to Bill Self, suffered a serious injury.

“I would have to go back and look at it, but he's got an Achilles injury,” said Self. “We're hoping for the best tomorrow. I'm not sure it's going to be great news, though. He got the rebound, came out on it. I think we had the numbers and then he went down and I don't know exactly how much time was left, but he and Juan, more so than anybody because they have been here the longest with me, but that's ten years of spending most of every day with them.

“They're like sons to me, and it's one thing to lose the game but to see him potentially lose a year on top of the game, you know, that's a pretty big blow,” he added.