SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Kansas basketball suffered an 89-68 rout Saturday in the NCAA tournament as its season ended with a round of 32 loss against Gonzaga.

Here are a few takeaways from the No. 4-seed Jayhawks (23-11) against the No. 5-seed Bulldogs (27-7) in this Midwest region matchup:

A pair of valuable timeouts from Bill Self in the 1st half

There were a couple times during the first half when it looked like Gonzaga might be able to break out a significant lead against Kansas. The first led to a timeout from Jayhawks coach Bill Self with a little less than 18 minutes remaining before halftime and the Bulldogs leading 6-0. The second led to another timeout from Self with a little more than five minutes left before halftime and the Bulldogs leading 33-27.

After each timeout, though, Kansas went on a run of its own. The Jayhawks actually led for more of the first half than Gonzaga did. Heading into the second half, Kansas led 44-43.

Kansas’ 3-point barrage doesn’t carry over into 2nd half

Kansas’ 3-point shooting in the first half propelled its offense forward. The Jayhawks ended up going into halftime 7-for-11 from behind the arc, with more than one player responsible for the uncharacteristically good shot-making in that regard. But whatever momentum that gave Kansas didn’t carry over into the second half.

The Jayhawks, who were out-scored by 22 points after halftime as Gonzaga seemingly couldn’t miss at times, finished 9-for-22 (40.9%) on 3s for the game. It wasn’t just 3s, but just about every type of shot imaginable, that seemed to give Kansas trouble in the second half. Senior center Hunter Dickinson finished as the Jayhawks’ leading scorer with 15 points.

Kansas falls short of Sweet 16 for 2nd straight year

A year ago, Kansas fell short in the round of 32 of the NCAA tournament against Arkansas. Without Self on the sideline, due to his health scare, the Jayhawks weren’t able to prevail and saw their season come to an end. But with Self on the sideline this year, a differently constructed roster and different March Madness path, the result ended up being the same.

This makes two years in a row Kansas hasn’t been able to reach the Sweet 16. It was back in 2022, when the Jayhawks won their most recent national championship, that they did reach that point. Now, though, they’ll head into the offseason with no shortage of questions.

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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: Kansas basketball's season ends with NCAA tournament loss vs Gonzaga