Too Little, Too Late: Jayhawks’ Rally Falls Short After Alarming Start in Tempe

Nick Springer and Kevin Flaherty react to Kansas basketball's loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils on Tuesday night.

In a physical and emotional encounter in Tempe, No. 14 Kansas saw its late-season momentum stall in a 70–60 upset loss to Arizona State.

The night’s defining moment occurred late in the first half when head coach Bill Self was issued two technical fouls in rapid succession and ejected for just the second time in his 23-year KU tenure after arguing an offensive foul call against Darryn Peterson.

Trailing by 20 at the half, the Jayhawks—led by acting head coach Jacque Vaughn—mounted a furious second-half rally that trimmed the deficit to just two points with four minutes remaining.

However, a scoring drought combined with an 11–0 Sun Devil response proved insurmountable as KU shot a season-low 29.2% from the field and struggled to a 25.9% clip from deep.

Despite double-double efforts from Tre White (16 pts, 14 rebs) and Flory Bidunga (14 pts, 13 rebs), the Jayhawks couldn’t overcome the early deficit, leaving them to search for answers heading into Saturday’s Sunflower Showdown against Kansas State.