CHICAGO — As Kansas prepared to face Providence in Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, Jayhawks coach Bill Self reluctantly acknowledged his team's improvement on defense.
"I'm not worried about it at all yet because we haven't been good consistently," Self said on Thursday. "But I think those who follow us will say that we have been a different team defensively in the last month."
The Jayhawks struggled to hold opponents in losses in January and February, giving Kentucky and Baylor 80 points, Texas 79 and Texas Tech 75. But KU had given up since a 74–64 loss to TCU on March 1, averaging 64.1 points during the seven-game victory that entered Friday night.
Self was a bit giddy after Kansas' defense at United center propelled it to a 66–61 victory over Providence. The Jayhawks held the Friars to tournament-low totals in the first half and shot just 33.8% for the game as they reached the Elite Eight for the ninth time under Self but for the first time since 2018.
Kansas, which passed Kentucky and became college basketball's all-time winning event with its 2,354th win, is the only No. 1 seed remaining in the tournament.
"Overall, it's getting better," Self said of his defense. "Our first shot defense was great. They hit us a little bit on the glass in the first half, but I think we're more connected defensively than we've been throughout the year."
Kansas improved to 23-0, restricting their opponent to less than 70 points. The Jayhawks recorded 11 blocks, four by All-American Ochai Agbaji, matching their season high and their highest NCAA Tournament record since 2012, when they also scored 11 against NC State in Sweet 16.
Relentless pressure caused Providence to miss 21 of its first 25 shot attempts, including its first 11 shots from the 3-point boundary. The Friars tied for lowest first-half scoring in the NCAA Tournament (17 points) and posted the worst shooting percentage (20) in the event. According to ESPN Stats and Information Research, Providence made just 1 in 24 contest shot attempts.
"As well as about the first half we could have guarded," said Self. "I told people at halftime, 'When the other team shoots it like they shot it and how we guard, only to get to nine, that's not a good sign. We played them poorly, they played us poorly' played, but if the other team can't score, you're not going to lose very often.
Kansas was in need of a defensive surge because of its own offensive conflicts. Aghaji scored just two first halfs and five points for the game, failing to eclipse 40% of the shooting for the fourth straight game. Junior forward David McCormack did not score until 10:44 but finished with eight points in the game.
The Jayhawks could never really get away and briefly lost the lead on the Noah Horchler layup with 5:49 to play. But sophistication forward Jalen Wilson responded 28 seconds later with a three-point playoff, and Kansas was never far behind. Wilson (16 points) and Remy Martin (season-high 23 points) were the only Kansas players to score in double digits.
"If it gets ugly and it comes to defensive rebounding and playing like that, if we win every game like this then I'm not really trippin'," Wilson said. "Like [self] said, if our offense is bad, we have to play them worse than ourselves."
Self was not as happy with Kansas' defense in the second half, as Providence scored 44 points on 48.5% shooting. But Kansas got enough offense when they needed it, including a beautifully executed alleyway from Christian Braun to Aghazi, who recorded only his second field goal with 2:57 to put his team ahead 57-50. did.
“He did a great job,” Self said of the defense of Providence on the opening. "They took the back doors, they took the lobs, they protected them with 6-foot-6 guys. ... We can see it as a shooting slowdown, and I think it is. But when you Only takes eight shots I don't know if I'll ever consider it a slowdown.
"I know one thing: The lid will eventually close. And when it does, it will be good for the people of KU."
Al Durham led Providence with 21 points, but no other player scored more than 10.
"He extended it," Durham said of Kansas. "They had a lot of ball pressure, they were switching and trying to make it harder for our stuff to run. It took us a little bit to adjust to how they were defending."
The Friars were aiming for their first Elite Eight appearance since 1997. They fell one win shy of tying the single-season team record but still captured their first regular-season Big East title.
"This was one hell of a season," coach Ed Cooley said. "We got beat by a great team, a really, really good team. Nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sad, I'm heartbroken, but I'm not going to let this one loss define the type of season we had."