LAWRENCE, Kan. — After leading his team past No. 7 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on Tuesday night, BYU coach Mark Pope said the 76-68 victory was memorable in part because of where it happened.
“I think the guys agree that everybody that grows up knows what this place is, and then, this was my first time walking into a game and I’ve never seen an atmosphere quite like this,” Pope said after ending the Jayhawks’ 19-game home winning streak. “It’s actually really special. This is a great team. We’re grateful we got an opportunity to come and compete here. It’s one of the meccas in college basketball.”
Late in the second half, however, Pope wondered if he had disrupted his team’s rhythm and cost it a shot at the upset. With 7:50 to play, he received a technical foul after a spirited conversation with the officiating crew during a timeout.
But instead of rallying his team with the technical, Pope said it forced the Cougars to refocus.
“I was frustrated in the moment,” Pope said. “I wish that I was such a genius coach that like, ‘I’m going to get a tech right now and rally the troops.’ That would be a little bit disingenuous. I was actually surprised that the tech was called with the conversation we were having. … I ended up giving [two points] to the other team, and my guys’ composure stayed perfect. And in this environment, in this atmosphere, that’s really hard to do. It’s a credit to these guys and how together they are and how much trust they have in each other, so I think that was the best part of the tech for me.”
BYU erased a double-digit lead in the second half with a 3-point barrage (7-of-15 after halftime). And Kansas struggled to get any offense from its half-court sets, missed key free throws down the stretch and couldn’t defend the perimeter as BYU turned the game in its favor after the break.
It was just the 18th home loss since Bill Self took over at Kansas in 2003. And it snapped a handful of other notable Jayhawks streaks, including an 82-game home win streak when leading at halftime and a 67-game home win streak against unranked opponents.
Self said he anticipated a subpar performance before the game even began.
“You could feel this coming today at shootaround,” he said. “We had a terrible shootaround. The focus wasn’t very good. The energy level wasn’t very good. It’s not anything from an attitude standpoint. It happens over the course of a season where you have days like this.”
With Kevin McCullar Jr. out for a fifth game because of a bruised knee, Kansas couldn’t find the offensive spark to match BYU’s energy in the final minutes. Self said recently that McCullar, a potential All-American and a projected first-round pick in this summer’s NBA draft, will not return this season unless he’s healthy and prepared to help the Jayhawks in the postseason.
After Tuesday’s loss, Self seemed to suggest the team is moving forward with the idea McCullar will not return.
“We’re preparing like he won’t [return],” Self said. “This is who we are. When we’re good, we’re pretty good, and when we’re not, we’re not. We played pitifully tonight. … It would help if we had [McCullar] back. But we’ve been dealing with this for about five weeks where he hasn’t been himself from a health standpoint. Even when he played, he wasn’t himself. We’re not counting on [his return]. We hope it can happen, but we’re certainly not banking on it.”
But Self noted his team’s personnel challenges shouldn’t diminish the victory for BYU, which has now won four games against AP-ranked opponents this season, its second most in a season in the poll era (since 1948-49).
Pope said the Cougars, who were making their first trip to the Phog since 1971, entered the Big 12 “humble” and understood the challenge they would face in America’s toughest league, per KenPom and other metrics. But Tuesday’s road win in BYU’s first season in the conference was the result of a unified team that stayed strong late, he said.
“A lot of people don’t beat them at home, so this is really special for us,” said BYU guard Jaxson Robinson, who along with teammate Dallin Hall had a game-high 18 points. “We know that we’re not done, so we’ve got a lot more to accomplish.”
Information from ESPN Stats & Information was used in this report.
