Texas Tech hands Kansas worst home loss under Bill Self

As has been well documented, Kansas is one Big 12 regular season title away from its 14th consecutive. If the Jayhawks make that happen, it will break a tie with UCLA (1967-1979) for the longest run of conference dominance in college basketball history.

Heading into Tuesday night, title No. 14 for coach Bill Self and company was already looking like it might be the most difficult of the bunch. It’s looking even more daunting now.

Kansas suffered its worst home loss of the Self era, falling 85-73 to a Texas Tech team that had previously been 0-17 at Allen Fieldhouse. The loss was the Jayhawks’ second in their last three tries inside the storied building. Before that stretch, KU had lost just two of their last 71 games played there.

But it gets worse.

Yeesh.

Kansas has major issues, namely its spotty outside shooting and lack of frontcourt depth, but perhaps the bigger story here should be Texas Tech. The 18th-ranked Red Raiders are off to a 13-1 start under second-year head coach Chris Beard. They also join No. 6 West Virginia as the only teams currently off to 2-0 starts in Big 12 play.

Before the season, nobody would have projected Texas Tech to be the team that finally ends “the streak.” There’s still a long way to go, but an early January win in Lawrence is a heck of a start.