Bill Self stood in a hallway in a dimly-lit basement of Wells Fargo Center, attempting to put in perspective No. 1-ranked Kansas’ first loss of the 2018-19 basketball season.
“Well, I think losing sucks and it’s never good, but it actually can be a positive if you learn from it so it doesn’t happen again the same way,” Self, KU’s 16th-year coach said.
His words came after his Jayhawks (10-1) squandered a seven-point lead in the final 4 1/2 minutes of an 80-76 loss to No. 18-ranked Arizona State before a crowd of 14,592. That crowd included former Chiefs coach Herm Edwards, the head coach of the Sun Devils football team, as well as Olympic swimming sensation Michael Phelps, former NBA players Jason Kidd and Grant Hill and current Los Angeles Laker and former Jayhawk Svi Mykhailiuk.