Kansas crawled back to tie the game at 73-73 with 1:47 remaining after trailing by double digits going into halftime. The Jayhawks wouldn’t score for the remainder of the game, and Darrion Williams hit a back-breaking three to propel Texas Tech to a 78-73 win in Allen Fieldhouse.

The Jayhawks had chances even after Williams hit the three. Kansas trailed by three with 37.1 seconds left, but Dajuan Harris threw the ball away trying to find Hunter Dickinson. Bill Self drew up a set play that could’ve gotten Kansas a quick two or a game-tying three, and Hunter Dickinson said he could’ve done a better job helping out Harris.

“I should’ve turned my head and saw that Juan was passing to me,” Dickinson said. “I kind of left him out on an island back there.”

Kansas implemented a full-court press and the foul game, and the Jayhawks eventually forced a turnover. Self had a timeout but decided it wasn’t the right time to use it, and Zeke Mayo forced a contested three with 11 seconds left on the clock that fell short to end Kansas’ chances at a win.

“I wanted to save my timeout just because I knew I’d need it regardless,” Self said. “Zeke forced up one where he didn’t have to shoot a three. He could’ve just driven in and made a layup and cut it to one.”

There have been multiple times this season where Kansas has failed to capitalize in clutch situations late in games. Two such games have occurred in Allen Fieldhouse– Kansas’ multiple collapses against Houston and Javon Small drawing a foul to put West Virginia ahead in the conference opener.

“I do think that we can play better in those one, two, three-possession type games,” Self said. “We’ve won a lot of games in the last one, two or three-possession games over time. And, you know, things have a tendency to balance out over time and we’re not making enough plays.”

Self thinks Kansas’ execution in late-game scenarios has to start on the defensive end. Williams’ clutch three was a result of a defensive breakdown, with KJ Adams leaving him open after he switched a ball screen and no one got back to the shooter. The Jayhawks’ inability to get clutch stops has put pressure on their offense, which hasn’t been good enough to make up the difference.

“We’re not getting enough key defensive stops when you’ve gotta get a stop,” Self said. “[It] puts a lot more pressure on you executing offensively when you don’t get a stop the possession earlier. And that seems like, to me, that’s happening more often than actually the poor offensive execution.”