Three takeaways from KU basketball’s thrilling win against the TCU Horned Frogs

The Kansas men’s basketball team didn’t score a basket for the final 4:45 of game time, but it didn’t matter.

The Jayhawks relied on the calling card of Bill Self-coached teams: defense.

In an ugly game, No. 3 Kansas fended off No. 24 TCU to win 63-58 on Monday night at Schollmaier Arena. As a result, KU — for now — is alone in first place in the Big 12 conference (a half-game up on Texas).

Gradey Dick scored 19 points and Kevin McCullar added 15 points for the Jayhawks, who split the season series with TCU. In January, the Horned Frogs defeated KU 83-60 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas (23-5, 11-4 Big 12) has won five straight conference games.

Mike Miles scored 13 points on 4-for-14 shooting for the Horned Frogs (18-10, 7-8 Big 12), who dropped to seventh place in the conference.

TCU had the chance to tie the game at 61-all with five seconds left in the game, but guard Damion Baugh missed a three-pointer. Horned Frogs’ guard Shahada Wells collected the offensive rebound and went up for a layup, but missed and McCullar collected the rebound.

McCullar subsequently got fouled with one second left. He iced the game by hitting both free throws.

The first half was a chaotic affair for both teams. Both teams struggled to hit shots, fouled quite a bit and couldn’t take advantage of the other team’s mistakes. The Jayhawks led 33-29 at the break.

After KU took a six-point lead (47-41) with 12:51 left in the game, the Horned Frogs answered with a run of their own. A few minutes later, TCU tied it up at 48-all off a JaKobe Coles layup.

Kansas will head home to play West Virginia on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Here are three takeaways from Monday’s game…

Gradey Dick holds down the fort on offense

The last time these two teams played, Dick scored eight points on 3-for-13 shooting from the floor.

On Monday, Dick scored 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting in the first half. He had 14 of KU’s 33 first half points. The rest of the team shot 9-for-25 (36%).

Every time TCU was on the verge of a big run, Dick would bury a timely shot to keep Kansas up or within striking distance all half.

The freshman showed why he’s considered a three-level scorer, including an impressive pump fake that had Horned Frog defenders reeling and led to open shots for Dick.

Jalen Wilson struggles on both ends of the court

KU forward Jalen Wilson typically carries the scoring load while providing quality defense and rebounding. Wilson only provided one of those things Monday night.

TCU defended Wilson excellently and he finished with seven points on 3-for-11 shooting from the floor.

The Horned Frogs forced Wilson to take difficult shots, limited his driving lanes and getting in his airspace on jump shots.

Wilson wasn’t much better on the defensive end. He seemed to lose track of his man on a handful of occasions, leading to wide-open layups for TCU.

The one bright side for Wilson? He grabbed 13 rebounds.

Ernest Udeh plays well in big minutes

Kansas starting forward KJ Adams struggled to defend the bigger, more physical TCU forwards and had multiple head-scratching turnovers.

Naturally, Self turned to backup center Ernest Udeh and the freshman delivered. He finished with six points on 3-for-3 shooting..

Udeh also did an excellent job of forcing tough shots for TCU and didn’t allow any easy paint points. Udeh added three steals and a block in his 14 minutes of game time.