Kansas Ended the Season Five Minutes Early: 5 Thoughts On the NCAA Tournament Loss to Arkansas

5. Where was the offense down the stretch?

This was one of the biggest problems all season long for the Jayhawks - where was the clutch scoring when things started to sputter?

The attack was stuck on 69 for way too long, Arkansas was able to fight through the switch to the zone for a few points, and that’s all it took to get by over the last two minutes.

There were opportunities, but the Jayhawks fumbled them away, and …

4. Hunter Dickinson was never really in this

Four issues took him out of the flow of the game.

The main man got hit with four fouls, he was on the bench too much, and he couldn’t make any sort of an impact with just 11 points and nothing in the second half.

He came up with nine rebounds, and he had a few chances to step up in key moments - a missed wide open three in the final moments was there - but it just wasn’t his night.

3. Kansas is knocked out of the first round. Let that sink in.

The last two NCAA Tournaments were huge disappointments for the Jayhawks, but they at least got to the second round before getting knocked out.

2006 against Bradley. That was the last time the Jayhawks didn’t get out of the first round, and that made it two years in a row at the time.

For the preseason No. 1 team, this was a fitting end to a brutally frustrating season that never seemed to settle in. Making this worse …

2. This game against Arkansas was SO winnable

The Hogs played well, and again, they were coming off a strong end to the season, but there was chance after chance to take over this game, and Kansas couldn’t do it.

The Jayhawk defense held the Hogs to just 25% from three. The team battled back after taking several big punches, and it did just fine with Dickinson on the bench.

Flory Bidunga was strong, and. AJ Storr picked a wonderful time to come up with a 15-point day, but ...

1. The last five minutes

To beat this up, yeah it was the team’s inability to close.

KJ Adams scored to put Kansas up 67-64 with just under five minutes to play. The defense was working, the offense was okay, and the Jayhawks were outscored 12-3 the rest of the way.

There was still a shot to pull this off. It was 68-67 Arkansas with two minutes left. Fumble, turnover, Arkansas three, ball game.

Even after all of that, down four the game was still there for the taking with 21 seconds to go when Dickinson missed his three, nothing else worked, and …

It’s Kansas basketball, everyone. This stinks, it wasn’t pretty, it was a rough season, and the program will pop back up and be great again.