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Hall of Fame coach John Calipari and his Arkansas Razorbacks defeated Hall of Fame coach Bill Self and his Kansas Jayhawks 79-72 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, ending a disappointing season for the preseason No. 1 Jayhawks in fitting fashion. Arkansas’ win snapped KU’s 17-game winning streak in tourney openers and handed the Jayhawks a 13th loss on the season, their most since 1982-83.
The Razorbacks rolled to a win as 4.5-point underdogs behind big games from Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis, who scored 22 and 18 points, respectively.
Arkansas’ defensive effort was just as important in the upset as its offense, crucially limiting KU All-American big man Hunter Dickinson to zero points, three fouls and turnovers in the second half. Dickinson finished with 11 points and nine rebounds in the losing effort.
Calipari has now handed Self two season-ending losses to Self’s one, with Thursday’s outcome the first of the three that didn’t end in the national championship game. (Self beat Calipari and Memphis in the 2008 NCAA championship; Calipari returned the favor vs. Self and KU in the 2012 NCAA championship.)
It’s the fifth time Kansas began the season ranked preseason No. 1 — all under Self — and fifth time it has finished by failing to make the Sweet 16.
YearFinal AP rankNCAA Tournament seedNCAA Tournament finish2004-051231st round loss to No. 14 seed Bucknell2009-10112nd round loss to No. 9 seed Northern Iowa2018-191742nd round loss to No. 5 seed Auburn2023-241942nd round loss to No. 5 seed Gonzaga2024-25TBD71st round loss to No. 10 seed Arkansas
Kansas finished the game shooting 25 of 58 from the field and 8 of 17 from 3-point range but committed 16 turnovers, an issue that has plagued this team all season. Self said after the game that KU beat KU as much as Arkansas beat KU.
“We got off to terrible starts to start the game and to start the second half,” Self said. “I don’t know what it was. We did a lot of the damage ourself.”
What went wrong against Arkansas
Arkansas’ length presented a problem that Kansas couldn’t quite solve. The Jayhawks tried forcing passes through windows that weren’t open and over defenders who were too tall or long. That resulted in 16 Arkansas points off 16 KU turnovers.
Kansas switched to a zone in the second half to take advantage of Arkansas’ poor perimeter shooting — the Razorbacks rank 211th in the nation in 3-point percentage — and that didn’t work, either. While Arkansas made only two 3s in the final 20 minutes, it sliced through the Jayhawks’ zone, handled the ball well enough and made crucial shots.
“The second half, we didn’t shoot it well, we didn’t make 3s,” Calipari said. “But we made the ones that mattered, and we made free throws.”
Back-to-back disappointing seasons
This is the third consecutive first weekend exit for Self and Kansas, the program’s longest Sweet 16 drought since 1998-2000 (pre-dating Self). It’s also the fifth first-weekend exit the last six NCAA Tournaments for the Jayhawks — the lone exception was 2021 when it won the national championship.
That’s the backdrop for what has been a devastatingly disappointing two seasons. In 2023-24, it began the season preseason No. 1 before falling in the second round in an end-of-season run marred by injuries. In 2024-25, it earned its worst NCAA Tournament seed ever under Self and fell in the first round in a campaighn derailed by misses in the transfer portal.
“In life, there’s going to be some ups and downs,” Self said. “And we haven’t had very many downs, to be honest with you. Last two years, we were such a beat-up team in the end, we didn’t have much of a chance with our injuries. This year, we don’t have that excuse. Our roster was good enough to be competitive but it probably wasn’t the roster to be talked about in a way that the best teams in America are talked about.”
Missing in the portal
After struggling to consistently build depth in the backcourt last season, Kansas made a concerted effort the issue in the the portal with the additions of AJ Storr, David Coit Jr., Shakeel Moore, Rylan Griffen, Noah Shelby and Zeke Mayo. Of those six, only Mayo and Griffen finished the year as starters. Meanwhile, the high-profile addition of Storr flopped as a bad fit. Coit and Moore averaged less than 16 minutes per game.
“We’ve got to do a better job of evaluating the portal,” Self said. “You can’t afford misses.”
Help on the way
Kansas has an alpha on the way in five-star combo guard Darryn Peterson from Prolific Prep. Peterson is one of two committed guards for KU in the 2025 class, and a star with No. 1 pick potential. His production could rally KU back to the top of the ladder.
He will need help, though.
With Dickinson, Dajuan Harris, KJ Adams and Mayo all graduating, KU is facing a significant roster overhaul this offseason. Armed with the resources of a blueblood, it should be competitive in the market to chase after a rounded roster catered to Peterson. The right offseason moves have a chance to get the Jayhawks back in the Big 12 and national title pictures.
