LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball won its 33rd-straight conference opener Saturday, with its 83-81 victory in Big 12 Conference play at home against TCU.

Here are five things to think about following the No. 2 Jayhawks (13-1, 1-0 in Big 12) win against the Horned Frogs (11-3, 0-1 in Big 12):

Kansas avenges last year’s loss at home against TCU

The last time Kansas and TCU matched up inside Allen Fieldhouse before this season’s meeting, the Jayhawks suffered a crushing defeat against the Horned Frogs. It was an alarming sight, considering how well Kansas usually does at home. And while that was last year, a season ago, this year and this season it was still on the Jayhawks’ minds.

So, ensuring TCU didn’t make it back-to-back victories against Kansas in Lawrence mattered to junior forward KJ Adams Jr. and his team.

“There was definitely a mindset where they really embarrassed us at our home place, so just letting that not happen twice in a row,” Adams said. “So, that was definitely an emphasis, and the guys that weren’t there — we showed a lot of clips of the last time they played here. They understood why we can’t let that one go.”

Bill Self sees a certain confidence in his players

There were moments throughout the game when it looked as if TCU would be able to pull out a win. It wasn’t just late in the second half when that appeared to be a possibility. But Kansas coach Bill Self has noticed a certain confidence in his guys, one that serves them well down the stretch in close games like Saturday’s.

“I’m seeing that the guys all think that they’ll figure it out,” Self said. “We didn’t figure it out against Marquette, but it wasn’t a game that was close enough to figure out.”

TCU’s Trevian Tennyson carves up Kansas’ defense

TCU senior guard Trevian Tennyson didn’t just have a good game against Kansas. He had a great game, as Self put it, on his way to 24 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field and 6-for-8 shooting from behind the arc. Tennyson made more 3s than the Jayhawks did as a team, and scored the second-most points in the game behind KU senior center Hunter Dickinson — who had 30.

“(TCU coach) Jamie (Dixon) has said publicly that he was their best shooter since Desmond (Bane), if I’m not mistaken,” Self said about Tennyson. “So, yeah, he played great and we did a terrible job of guarding him. But I thought he was terrific. I thought their whole team played great. I thought it was a great basketball game.”

Kansas’ turnovers nearly cost Jayhawks the win

Kansas shot the ball well. It out-rebounded its opponent. But the Jayhawks still almost lost, and that came in large part because of how careless they were with the basketball.

TCU scored 22 points off of 18 Kansas turnovers, while the Jayhawks had just eight points off of nine Horned Frogs turnovers. Kansas redshirt senior guard Dajuan Harris Jr.’s five turnovers were the most of anyone on the day, which is uncharacteristic of him to say the least. While Self acknowledged his side had issues defensively over the course of the matchup, he made a point to note that their turnover issue played a significant role.

“Our defense needs work,” Self said, “but our offense was their best offense.”

Another game, another noteworthy performance from KJ Adams Jr.

Adams recorded his first career double-double on Saturday, collecting 18 points and 10 rebounds. He was efficient shooting the ball, and aggressive going for it when other players missed. Kansas can go far if its core four, which includes Adams, keeps playing at a high level.

“We say the same thing every game — he was great,” Self said about Adams. “He made his free throws. He gets 10 rebounds. 7-of-8 from the field. He made a terrible play in transition which led to a 3 with Tennyson in transition when he tried to skip it, but he’s playing lights out.”

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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: ‘Embarrassed’ a year ago, Kansas basketball now beats TCU at home