Kansas' Bill Self Hopes to Snap Unlikely Winless Streak at Texas Tech

When you think of tough arenas to play in, Texas Tech's United Spirit Arena isn't anywhere near the top of the conversation.

Except, of course, for Kansas head coach Bill Self, who has yet to win in Lubbock in three tries. Self is hoping his fortunes will change some when the second-ranked and perennial power Jayhawks come into United Spirit Arena Tuesday night to take on the recently surging Red Raiders.

Still, Self struggles to explain the past three games over the last six years when he has taken highly touted teams into Lubbock and come away with stunning losses. Self has won in every other Big 12 venue during his time at KU.

"I don't think we've played particularly well there but they have also played great," said Self, whose Jayhawks (20-1, 5-1 in the Big 12) are 3-0 in Big 12 road games and 9-0 away from home overall this season. "I don't know what it is but we just haven't performed well there.

"I don't know if you can put much stock in it. Every team is different. They have different teams, we have a different team.

"When you only play every other year, there really is not a rhythm or anything like that that because you always have different teams going down there but certainly our guys have talked about that," Self continued. "We talked about that yesterday and we will be excited to go down there and perform better."

Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, they will be facing a Texas Tech team that has a little momentum going after winning three straight games coming into Saturday. This matchup is shaping up somewhat like the 2009 tilt in Lubbock when a 13-1 KU team came into United Spirit Arena sporting a 13-1 league record but left with an 84-65 loss to a hot-shooting Texas Tech squad that went 3-13 in Big 12 play that season.

Pat Knight is also hard pressed to explain why the Red Raiders have managed to play the Jayhawks so well at home during the Self era, other than the shots just seem to fall.

"I think if you look at the three games, we were abnormally hot," said Knight, whose team enters Tuesday night's game 11-11 and 3-4 in Big 12 play. "We hit a lot of shots against them in all three games. That always helps, especially going against a better team than yourself. If you can hit shots, tough shots that always opens things up. That was the main thing.

"We've got to be able to score against them. We'll try everything we can from a defensive standpoint but they are so good offensively if your defense isn't working, you've got to be able to hit a shot."
-- Pat Knight on the key for his team against Kansas "If you look at those three games, we were on fire in every game. Of course when you start hitting from the outside that opens up the drive and everything. That was the main thing, we were able to hit shots and that is going to be the key (Tuesday night). We've got to be able to score against them. We'll try everything we can from a defensive standpoint but they are so good offensively if your defense isn't working, you've got to be able to hit a shot."

The shots have certainly been falling for the Red Raiders as of late. Much of that has to do with the inspired play of seniors Mike Singletary and John Roberson, who have broken from their respective funks.

Their improved play and the three-game winning streak are just what the Red Raiders need coming into an inevitable week that includes games against Kansas and No. 3 Texas -- the top two teams in the league -- in back-to-back games. No other team in the country will have a tougher stretch this week.

"The good thing is when you have to play two of the top teams, not just in your league but the entire country, you want momentum going into it and have your guys have confidence," Knight said. "That's the good thing about it happening now, we have three wins under our belt in a row so guys are playing with confidence whereas if this had a happened a week or so ago when we hadn't won a game, it would be tough to really get these guys up for this for.

"The good thing is we have these three games under our belt so no matter what happens this week, we have this good stretch under our belts. So I still think it's not going to hurt our confidence because they can look at this past week and see we put three wins together."