Livescore
Kansas guard Zeke Mayo was the subject of threatening and racist messages on social media after the team’s 78-73 home loss Saturday to No. 10 Texas Tech, prompting coach Bill Self to issue a late night statement requesting any criticism about the team be directed instead at him.
Mayo posted a sample of the messages on social media in screenshots in which fans called him a racial slur, made veiled threats and incited self-harm, among other things. He posted a few of the messages and also issued an apology for not playing better.
Here’s what Self said in a lengthy statement posted just after midnight ET:
The game today was a very good college basketball game. We played a very good team and we got beat. We had some individuals have exceptional individual games, and we had some maybe not play up to the standard they’ve set for themselves. But, everyone on our team, coaches included, myself, more than anyone, had opportunities to impact the game. A play here or there, that could have been the difference in the game over the course of 40 minutes. Texas Tech made more plays than we did.
We competed. We tried. We came up short and I’m proud of their efforts and I’m also proud of their preparation to be ready for the game. We haven’t had the overall year that we had hoped for ourselves, nor the year that many other people have expected, but it hasn’t been from a lack of caring. I can do a lot of things better. We all could do a lot of things better. But I’ll roll with these guys every day and be proud of it. Any criticism about the team should be directed at me. I’m the head coach.
I’m looking forward to seeing how we bounce back against a terrific Houston team on Monday. Then, after that game, I’ll look forward to see how we respond to a terrific Arizona team on Saturday. This is the most important time of the season, and this is the time where we need to be better, but we also need to be focused on basketball and not things being said outside of basketball that have absolutely zero merit.
Mayo, KU’s second-leading scorer on the season, scored just five points on 1 of 7 shooting in the loss to Texas Tech, the team’s third home loss on the season. It was the third single-digit scoring effort in the last four outings for Mayo.
The struggles have coincided with a late-season swoon for the Jayhawks, who after opening the year as the preseason No. 1 team fell out of the AP poll this week. The loss Saturday gave it 10 losses on the season, the second consecutive year it reached double-digit losses before reaching 20 wins.
Mayo, despite recent struggles, has been one of the few bright spots for Kansas this season after remaking part of its roster in the offseason via the transfer portal. A Lawrence, Kansas, native, he transferred in from South Dakota State after earning Summit League Player of the Year last season and has made an instant impact, averaging 14.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
Kansas has two regular season games remaining on its schedule with a road trip to Houston on Monday and a regular season finale next Saturday vs. Arizona before Big 12 Tournament play.
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