PROVO, Utah -- Richie Saunders scored 22 points to lead BYU, and the Cougars handed No. 23 Kansas a monumental 91-57 defeat on Tuesday night.
At 34 points in margin, according to ESPN Research, Tuesday's loss tied for the worst under Jayhawks coach Bill Self, and was the third-worst defeat in the storied program's history. In 2021, Self's team also lost by 34, that time to USC in the NCAA tournament.
The defeat also meant the Jayhawks suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season, and this was could be easily explained. They committed 15 turnovers and allowed 52% shooting en route to the result.
Trevin Knell added 15 points and Mawot Mag had 13 to help the Cougars (18-8, 9-6 Big 12) register their third straight win. Saunders, Knell, and Mag combined to connect on 11 3-pointers.
"I thought we were awful, and I thought they were great," Self said after the loss. "I think that BYU could have beaten anybody tonight. They were great. And we didn't do anything to make them play less great. ... Our offense stunk, but that wasn't it. It wasn't our offense. It was we couldn't stop them or getting momentum to stop them."
Hunter Dickinson led the Jayhawks with 12 points, but it wasn't nearly enough. Kansas (17-9, 8-7) trailed by as many as 38 points in the second half.
Efficient shooting and relentless defensive pressure powered the Cougars. Mag and Keba Keita each scored a pair of baskets to fuel a 14-2 run that gave BYU a 22-7 lead just seven minutes into the game, much to the delight of the fans.
"We were so poor," Self said, "that I don't think we felt the full energy of a building than if it had been a tight game."
Kansas had a chance to close the gap after BYU went six minutes without scoring a basket. The Jayhawks cut the deficit in half, pulling to 25-17 on a 3-pointer from Rylan Griffin.
The Cougars regained a double-digit lead behind a flurry of 3-pointers. BYU made five 3s over the final 6:15 before halftime, highlighted by back-to-back outside baskets from Saunders and Knell, to extend its lead to 46-26 at the break.
For the Jayhawks, the losses are becoming more and more confounding. According to ESPN Research, this is the seventh loss of the season for Kansas as a ranked team playing an unranked opponent. That is tied for the program's most such losses in a single season in Associated Press Poll Era, which began in 1948-49. The Jayhawks also suffered that amount of losses, in that qualification, in the 1998-99 and 1986-87 seasons.
"We need to regroup. We need to get away from each other for a day, go home, and hopefully be able to," Self said. "A lot of times with teams, there needs to be something that happens that pulls everybody together that is us against the outside. And we're going to have an opportunity to do that for sure."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
