LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball’s 2023-24 season continued Saturday with a 64-61 win in Big 12 Conference play at home against Baylor.

Here are a few takeaways from the No. 4 Jayhawks (19-5, 7-4 in Big 12) victory against the No. 13 Bears (17-6, 6-4 in Big 12):

Kansas wins despite not having two players available

Baylor didn’t have redshirt sophomore guard Langston Love on Saturday. So, it wasn’t just Kansas that was without a key player for this matchup. But the Jayhawks were without a pair of guards in graduate senior Kevin McCullar Jr. and freshman Jamari McDowell, and McCullar is an All-America candidate who has been vital to the team’s success.

Graduate senior guard Nicolas Timberlake got the start in McCullar’s place, and although he made some high-profile mistakes, he did end up finishing with eight points and a couple of rebounds. For just the fourth time this season, Timberlake hit multiple 3s in a game. Time will tell if that gives him the confidence he needs moving forward.

Kansas takes advantage of Baylor miscues, making up for poor rebounding

At game’s end, Kansas had scored 17 points off of 21 Baylor turnovers. The Bears had scored just five points off of eight Jayhawks turnovers. And that provided Kansas coach Bill Self and company a significant advantage, especially considering the Jayhawks weren’t rebounding the ball well at all.

Baylor won the rebounding battle 42-25. The Bears had 10 offensive rebounds to Kansas’ four, leading in part to a 15-4 advantage in second-chance points. Having McCullar could have helped the Jayhawks here, but overall it’s definitely an area where improvement is needed.

Kansas remains in contention for the Big 12 regular season title

There is still about a month left in the regular season, but when it comes to the race for the Big 12 regular season title that’s not as much time as it might sound. Had Kansas suffered a loss Saturday against Baylor, the Jayhawks would have put themselves in a really tough position. Instead, they’re still keeping pace with the group of teams that are just behind Houston.

Kansas will be tested soon, with a game upcoming Monday on the road against No. 23 Texas Tech. But regardless of how that game goes, the Jayhawks continued to remain undefeated at home. Keeping that going goes a long way to help Kansas be in contention for the Big 12 championship.

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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 earns Big 12 Conference win at home against Baylor