Standing in the hallway outside Kansas’ locker room before practice, junior forward Danielle McCray leaned against a wall and wondered aloud.

In a few minutes, McCray and the Jayhawks will begin watching tape on Saturday’s opponent, 15th ranked Kansas State — a team the Jayhawks lost to by 33 points earlier this season.

Behind them are two straight losses and a 1-3 record in the Big 12.

“These couple of games, these losses we’ve had, it makes you think, ‘Are we that bad?’ And the answer is we’re not that bad,” McCray said. “That’s what’s frustrating, just how we do in practice and how we talk about things.

“It’s a total turnaround on game days. We’re not that bad. We’re just killing ourselves right now. We have to find a way to do something different.”

For almost two weeks similar thoughts surrounded McCray, Kansas’ leading scorer, who played inconsistently at the beginning of conference play.

In that stretch, which coach Bonnie Henrickson called the worst funk of McCray’s career, Kansas’ offense struggled with consistency in losses against K-State and Texas Tech.

Sure, McCray averaged 13.7 points in Kansas’ first three conference games, but she made only 29 percent of her attempts and turned the ball over 14 times.

“The whole thing was about when I’m going to get myself out of a slump,” McCray said. “I don’t think I was necessarily in a slump; my shot selection wasn’t good.”

If McCray was in a slump then Wednesday night’s game against Nebraska her awakening. McCray scored a career-high 30 points, missed just six shots and added three blocks and three steals.

McCray made her first two shots — one inside, the other a mid-range jumper — and for a struggling shooter, that’s exactly what needed to happen.

“She always sparks us offensively every night,” sophomore forward Nicollette Smith said. “Once she’s on, I think everyone starts feeling the flow.”

But McCray didn’t get much support against Nebraska, especially in the second half. Sophomore center Krysten Boogaard scored 12 of her 18 points before halftime and was mostly ineffective in the second half.

On most nights, McCray is expected to shoulder the load on offense. Against Nebraska, though, Kansas relied too heavily on McCray: She scored 17 of Kansas’ 25 second-half points.

“We don’t need to have three or four people score 20 points a night,” Smith said. “We just need to have balanced scoring and we need to get more scoring from our bench. We need to have people come off our bench and spark us.”

That wasn’t the case against Nebraska: Kansas’ bench was out-scored 16-0. And that can’t be the case when Kansas plays host to K-State on Saturday.

The injury to junior guard Sade Morris magnifies the need for more scoring. Morris, Kansas’ leading scorer, suffered a Grade 2 concussion against Texas Tech on Jan. 17 and hasn’t played since.

Regardless of whether Morris plays — Henrickson said she was still day-to-day before practice yesterday — Kansas needs continued production from McCray and from role players to upset K-State.

“We’re past-due for any kind of win,” McCray said. “I mean, anything. We’re way past due.”

Smith done for season

After tearing her ACL against K-State earlier this season, senior guard Katie Smith contemplated whether she should have surgery or attempt to rehab and finish the season.

Henrickson announced yesterday that Smith decided to have surgery later this month.

— — Edited by Chris Hickerson