Down two starters, KU basketball eliminated from the Big 12 Tournament by Cincinnati

Twenty-five seconds.

That’s how long it took a fan at T-Mobile Center to hit a layup, 3-pointer and halfcourt shot at halftime of KU’s game vs. Cincinnati in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Meanwhile, the shorthanded Jayhawks went over five minutes without a field goal midway through the first half. And forget the halfcourt shot, it took Kansas 23 game minutes just to make a 3-pointer.

On a Wednesday night in which KU’s offense looked disjointed and no bucket came easy, No. 11 seed Cincinnati dominated No. 6 Kansas 72-52.

The Bearcats will face No. 3 seed Baylor in the Big 12 quarterfinals on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Central.

The Jayhawks, playing without stars Hunter Dickinson (shoulder) and Kevin McCullar (knee), fell behind double-digits in the first half. They made a charge to cut the margin to two in the second half, but Cincinnati responded quickly and decisively.

KJ Adams scored 22 points for KU (22-10, 10-8 Big 12), which now awaits Selection Sunday with plenty of questions — even while coach Bill Self said he expects his starters to be available for March Madness.

KU guards Elmarko Jackson and Nick Timberlake joined the starting lineup in place of first-team All-Big 12 selections McCullar and Dickinson.

Here are three takeaways from KU’s loss to the Bearcats…

The long ball plagues the Jayhawks

Already down two stars and playing a small-ball lineup, KU desperately needed to connect from deep.

Instead, the Jayhawks struggled to score from 3, a persistent problem this season.

Kansas didn’t hit a 3-pointer until Jamari McDowell canned one at the 16:43 mark in the second half. After that make, Kansas improved to 1-for-10 from deep, including shooting 0-of-8 in the first half. For the game, KU shot 3-for-20 (15%)

Despite playing with better spacing without two bigs in the paint, the Jayhawks didn’t generate quality looks on 3-pointers. The few open looks Kansas did get, it failed to convert into makes.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati started red-hot from deep. The Bearcats shot 5-of-12 (41.7%) from deep in the first half, later cooling off to shoot 34.6% on 3s for the game.

KU’s second-half defense was a positive (mostly)

Midway through the second half, the Bearcats had only made two shots on 16 attempts.

The Jayhawks did an excellent job of forcing UC to take bad or rushed shots. The smaller lineup contested nearly every shot and made the Bearcats’ offense look out of sorts in that time.

At least until the floodgates opened late.

That early second-half period marked one of the most impressive defensive stretches by KU all season. The Jayhawks’ defense played a pivotal role in reducing the deficit from 17 points to two.

Cincinnati shot 36.1% overall in the second half. But KU’s offense couldn’t keep up, and eventually the Bearcats ran away with it.

Kansas freshman Jamari McDowell impresses

Without Dickinson and McCullar, the Jayhawks had only seven scholarship players available on Wednesday.

That allowed McDowell to play extended minutes — he played 24 minutes overall. He finished with seven points and six rebounds.

McDowell delivered one of his best performances of the season on Wednesday.

When he first came into the game, the freshman guard immediately injected energy into a lifeless Jayhawk squad. Within minutes, McDowell hit two layups after getting open by hard cuts to the basket.

Not to mention, he broke KU’s ice-cold start on 3-pointers.

He even played critical minutes down the stretch, as Self put him in after a rough night by fellow freshman Johnny Furphy.

McDowell playing well in extended minutes is important for Kansas, especially if KU finds itself shorthanded again in the NCAA Tournament.