LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball’s path to winning a Big 12 Conference regular season title would have been much more difficult if it had lost Saturday against Houston.

The No. 4 Cougars were ahead of the No. 9 Jayhawks in the Big 12 standings. But the Jayhawks (18-4, 6-3 in Big 12) don’t have to worry about that because they won 78-65 against the Cougars (19-3, 6-3 in Big 12) inside Allen Fieldhouse.

Here are five quotes that were said postgame that are worth thinking about before Kansas’ next game Monday on the road against rival Kansas State.

Bill Self praises Johnny Furphy’s recent play

Freshman guard Johnny Furphy might not be staying in Kansas much longer if he continues to play like this. He was already trending toward being a pro at some point in his basketball career, but during Big 12 play he’s taken steps forward that’s making the conversation of that happening sooner rather than later much louder.

Self’s postgame praise for Furphy, who scored in double figures for the sixth straight time, adds weight to that.

“Can you imagine where he’s come in the last month?” Self said postgame on the Jayhawk Radio Network show. “I mean, it’s — he’s one of the best players in our league and he’s doing a lot of good things.”

Kevin McCullar Jr. addresses Kansas’ success offensively

Kansas came into this game well aware of Houston’s defensive prowess. The Cougars’ defense was arguably the nation’s best, if not one that’s at least in the conversation for that title. But the Jayhawks got off to a fast start and ended up scoring more points against Houston than any team had before this season.

“Just playing together, trusting each other out there, listening to the game plan,” graduate senior guard Kevin McCullar Jr. said on ESPN’s TV broadcast postgame. “And we came out and executed it against a really good team.”

It shouldn’t be forgotten that Kansas committed 18 turnovers, while Houston committed three. That’s a problem, especially because the Cougars scored 20 points off of turnovers and the Jayhawks only scored six. But many of those Kansas turnovers were unforced errors, and those should be correctable mistakes moving forward.

Bill Self notes Kansas’ toughness

There are going to be teams that challenge Kansas physically this season home and away. That was true before the Jayhawks played Houston and it will remain so. But the reality that they were able to not be outmatched by the Cougars in that regard is another indication that Kansas is a team that is capable of playing with anyone on any given night.

“That is one tough team and we matched their toughness today,” Self said postgame on the Jayhawk Radio Network show.

Kevin McCullar Jr. speaks to what Kansas proved in Saturday’s win

Houston is one of the new members of the Big 12 this season, and is in contention to win a league title in year one. But it was never going to be easy for the Cougars, who have previous losses this season on the road against Iowa State and TCU. Kansas became the latest team to show Houston how tough it is to win on the road in the Big 12.

“We’re just trying to compete every night,” McCullar said on the ESPN broadcast. “The Big 12 is a gauntlet. Every night is going to be a battle. It’s the best conference in the nation for a reason. So, we’re just glad we pulled this one out.”

Protecting home court is vital for Kansas as it continues to cause another Big 12 championship. So far this season, the Jayhawks are undefeated in Lawrence. Time will tell if they can hold onto that kind of record.

Bill Self highlights how tough the upcoming rivalry game will be for Kansas

Kansas State has lost four-straight games going into Monday’s rivalry matchup, but it’s still a rivalry. Two years ago Kansas, in the year it won its latest national championship, needed a massive comeback in the second half to win on the road against the Wildcats who were having a rough season. Self pointed out that the atmosphere Houston played in Saturday is going to be the atmosphere his Jayhawks play in Monday.

“It doesn’t matter what the records are or what they’ve done,” Self said postgame on the Jayhawk Radio Network show. “They’re going to play their butts off. … I mean, they always do against us, but especially over there. And we’ll have to have a performance like we did tonight in order to go over there and leave out of there happy.”

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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 Bill Self calls Johnny Furphy one of Big 12's best