What Kansas HC Bill Self Said After 18-Point Loss to Iowa State

Kansas had its eight-game winning streak snapped on Saturday, falling 74-56 to Iowa State in Ames for its biggest margin of defeat all season. The Jayhawks allowed a dominant 20-2 run toward the end of the first half, and the Cyclones never looked back after that.

Following the team's third loss in conference play, Hall of Fame head coach Bill Self spoke to the media to discuss his group's performance. These were some of the most notable quotes from his press appearance.

On what he saw from Iowa State's defense:

"Well, they just pressured the crap out of us. You guys saw what I saw, I mean, they pressured us and they strung out or trapped us off ball screens and we didn't handle that well at all. And our ability to move the ball and drive gaps to force help, it was pretty weak the entire first half. Second half, we actually did a better job with it, but they had so much pressure on the ball, even when guys were open, we didn't think about passing it because we were just trying to survive. So, give them credit. That game today, it mirrored the game in Lawrence. You know, it was us in Lawrence doing that, and today, it was them doing that and we didn't handle it very well at all."

On what makes Hilton Coliseum a difficult venue to play at:

"Well, what makes it hard to play here more times than not is, Iowa State's got really good players out there on the court. That's what makes it hard. Crowd's great, but that adds to it. So, I thought the things that you have to do to win away from home — the toughness, take away the arc, because that was definitely an emphasis. Take care of the basketball, no live-ball turnovers. If you look at the first half, they beat us on offensive rebounds, fan for threes and scoring off live-ball turnovers as much as anything. So we didn't do near enough to make up for our deficiencies there. And then to start the second half, they come out, and they make their first seven threes. So that would be a formula for disaster, wherever you're playing away from home. And they executed, and they played well, but our defense was soft enough to make sure that we let them feel comfortable shooting."

On the difference between the Iowa State team he coached against last month vs. now:

"Well, they were a lot better today than they were against us the first time. You know, the thing about it is, TJ and I have actually talked about this. The season's long. We caught them when they weren't very good. They had a terrible seven to 10 days, whatever it was. Worst seven to 10 days they've had this season. We were the same way. We were coming off having that stretch, and we bowed our neck that game, and they bowed their neck this game, even after coming off the game in Fort Worth. So it's a long season. It's ebbs and flows. It's disappointing that we left out of here not putting game pressure on them. Because you can come up here and play great and not win. But certainly we didn't put any game pressure on them that was significant at all, I didn't feel like."

On Darryn Peterson playing just 24 minutes in his return:

"I think it was just probably game flow and conditioning. I mean, I tried to sub him because, guys, he's been sick. So when he needed to come out there at the end, I was thinking, 'What do we do to give us the best chance to have success on Wednesday?' So yeah, that was just me making that decision."

On how he feels his team will respond to the loss:

"In this league? Guys, it's a good chance it's going to happen again. It's a good chance Iowa State will lose again. It's a good chance Arizona will lose again. This league is good, and especially away from home. So, how do you think we'll react? God, I hope we react like men, because in February, when you play conference games and you play away from home, there's a great chance even the best teams leave unhappy. So we just can't let one become two."