Kansas basketball coach Bill Self remembers Billy Tubbs, more after beating Oklahoma

NORMAN, Oklahoma — Kansas basketball earned a significant Big 12 Conference win Saturday with its 67-57 result on the road against Oklahoma.

Here are a few more takeaways from the top-25 matchup between the Jayhawks (20-6, 8-5 in Big 12) and the Sooners (18-8, 6-7 in Big 12):

Bill Self explains a key, defensive adjustment Kansas made

Oklahoma went from a team that was thriving offensively in the first half to one that couldn’t do much of anything on that end of the court in the second, apart from the improvement at the free-throw line. Before halftime, the Sooners shot 12-for-28 (42.9%) from the field, 7-for-12 (58.3%) from behind the arc and 3-for-8 (37.5%) from the free-throw line. After halftime, the Sooners shot 4-for-22 (18.2%) from the field, 1-for-11 (9.1%) from behind the arc and 14-for-15 (93.3%) from the free-throw line.

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Kansas redshirt senior guard Dajuan Harris Jr. said postgame the credit goes to his coaches for changing up the Jayhawks’ approach, which went from allowing 34 points in the first half to allowing 23 in the second. Kansas head coach Bill Self explained the difference was their ball-screen coverage. Although Self noted they hadn’t practiced it, the players did well executing what was drawn up.

“We made a pretty significant change that was really not that subtle,” Self said. “It was pretty significant, and the guys didn’t screw it up. Most times it’d be hard to remember all five guys all the time, but for the most part they did a good job. But we didn’t sub much the second half, which made it easier.”

Bill Self highlights Billy Tubbs’ legacy, more

From Self’s perspective, there are two people who made basketball what it is in Oklahoma — Billy Tubbs and Wayman Tisdale. Tubbs, a former head coach for the Sooners, was someone Self praised for his storytelling and ability to keep things interesting and fun. Tubbs’ legacy was honored during the game between Kansas and Oklahoma.

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“It’s different now, and I’m not saying it’s worse, but the best days of college basketball — we had it better than anybody and we probably didn’t realize we did,” Self said. “Because we had Billy, you had Larry (Brown) at Kansas, you had Jack (Hartman) at K-State or Lon (Kruger) … you had Johnny (Orr) at Iowa State, and then you go back to (Joe) Cipriano or whatever at Nebraska … and coach (Eddie) Sutton at Oklahoma State. That was as good as any league’s ever had it, and I don’t know that we really grasped it at the time because … those guys made this league great.”

Self also appeared to reference Missouri’s Norm Stewart, too.

Hunter Dickinson praises Johnny Furphy’s effort

With freshman guard Johnny Furphy’s rise has come more attention from opposing teams, when it comes to how to stop him. But while Furphy hasn’t always excelled through that attention, the win at Oklahoma proved to be an example of when this Kansas newcomer does. Furphy finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and a couple of assists, and senior center Hunter Dickinson praised Furphy’s effort postgame.

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“I thought he played really within himself today,” said Dickinson, who also praised Furphy’s rebounding. “Obviously, he hit some shots. But I think Kevin (McCullar Jr.) coming back helped him a lot because now he’s back into that role where he can kind of play off others and he doesn’t really have to try to facilitate. And I think right now, at this stage, that’s great for him — is just kind of playing off us and really just figuring college basketball out still.”

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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball coach Bill Self remembers Billy Tubbs' legacy