Yes, it was ‘ugly,’ but also a ‘great’ win. What Jayhawks’ Bill Self said of Cincinnati game

Bill Self’s 600th victory as head men’s basketball coach at Kansas will be remembered as one of the best defensive outings not only in his 22 years at KU, but the entire history of the blue-blood program.

The Jayhawks’ 54-40 victory over Cincinnati on Saturday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati showcased a KU defense that allowed the fewest points in a road game since a 45-39 win over Nebraska on Feb. 23, 1963, in Lincoln.

The Bearcats went 3-of-22 on 3-pointers to KU’s 2-of-21 mark from behind the arc in struggling to that 62-year scoring low for a KU road foe.

“It was an ugly (bleep), great win,” Self said after his team improved to 12-3 overall and 3-1 in the Big 12. Cincinnati fell to 10-5, 0-4.

“Would it be better if it was 84-70? That’s what I told the guys. The answer is ‘No,’’’ added Self, who values toughness and defense perhaps above all else.

“We grinded. We figured out a way to make them play worse than us. We played poorly but made them play worse. It was ugly offensively but certainly one of the better (games) we’ve had,” Self added.

KU on two other occasions has held a team to 13.6% shooting from 3 (Missouri in 2010 and Stanford in 2002). It’s the lowest 3-point percentage against KU since the Jayhawks held West Virginia to 13.3% on March 12, 2016. It was the fewest points scored against a Self team at KU since Howard scored 34 in a game at Allen Fieldhouse in 2011.

“Holding a team like that to 15 points the second half on the road is pretty good,” Self said. “I think what happens is you win the fight, usually you win the game. That was a quote sent to me this week.”

He did not reveal the author of the quote.

“We’ve got to keep winning the fight. We’ve got to enjoy rock fights. What’s that impression: ‘You wrestle with a pig, you get muddy but they like it.’ We need to be one of those teams that likes it. Right now we are kind of in that mode,” Self stated.

It took a 16-3 run from KU the final 6-and-a-half minutes to bust open the low-scoring game. Self conceded, “individually you look at that game and you can say it wasn’t very good. Look at it from a team standpoint defensively and being connected, that was darn good.”

Hunter Dickinson scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. He was KU’s only double-digit scorer on a day the Jayhawks hit 35.3% of their shots overall and 9.5% of their 3’s.

Zeke Mayo had nine points on 4-of-10 shooting (1 of 6 from 3). KJ Adams had eight points on 3-of-9 shooting and seven rebounds (all in the second half) and Shakeel Moore eight points on 4-of-9 shooting. Dajuan Harris had five points, six rebounds, one assist and two turnovers.

“They didn’t score off their actions. Our ball-screen defense was on point,” Self said, crediting Adams and Moore for exceptional second-half defense. He also credited Joe Dooley for an excellent scouting report on Cincy.

“KJ was a nonfactor the first half and arguably the best player in the game the second half. Shak totally keyed us defensively the second half. Hunt was Hunt. I thought he was good.”

Self, whose record at KU is now 600-146, added: “Zeke just didn’t make shots the whole day, but made a couple big plays late.”

Mayo hit an inside shot that gave KU a 44-37 lead at 4:44, and had a steal followed by a sensational pass to Moore for a bucket that gave KU a 46-37 lead at 3:40.

“Let’s keep it real, we were struggling to score, but we made them play worse than us. It’s what we have to do out there defensively,” senior center Dickinson said, adding “we hung our hat on the defensive end today.”

Senior guard Mayo said “shots did not fall like we wanted them to. We hunkered down on defense and were a lot more aggressive defensively. That was the difference. We were connected on both ends of the floor the second half.”

Of the late 16-3 run which featured Cincy missing 10 of its last 11 shots, Mayo said: “We knew we had to tighten up, stay connected and communicate. We did those things and got the job done on the defensive end.”

Dickinson said it was vital the Jayhawks improve to 3-1 in league play (including 2-0 on the road) heading into a 6 p.m. Wednesday game at Iowa State.

“We won at UCF. We wanted to make sure everybody knew it wasn’t a fluke, that we can win on the road,” Dickinson said. “We are a different team from last year, a gritty team. We are a team able to go on the road and have defense travel and have toughness travel.

“Our guys were gritty, tough. Being able to translate that toughness to the defensive end of the floor was big. When you were shooting as bad as we were we knew they were going to come crashing,” Dickinson noted.

KU outrebounded Cincinnati 44-42. The Bearcats were led in scoring by Dillon Mitchell, who had 10 points.