Kansas' Zeke Mayo says he received death wishes, racist message after loss to Texas Tech

Shreyas Laddha, The Kansas City Star on Mar 1, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After a rough outing against Texas Tech on Saturday, Kansas guard Zeke Mayo received a barrage of social media hate.

Mayo tweeted four different screenshots appearing to come from his Instagram direct messages, all expressing hateful words at the transfer guard, following the Jayhawks’ 78-73 defeat to Texas Tech.

The messages varied from a mix of threats to racist comments. Two of the messages wished for him to die.

“I 100% deserve all the criticism in the world. My performance was beyond pitiful today and has been for a while now,” Mayo wrote in the post sharing the direct messages. “I work my ass off everyday to be great, but I can’t be perfect all the time. I’m sorry to our fans and my teammates, I will continue to get better.”

Teammate Dajuan Harris responded to Mayo’s message on X with words of support: “It ain’t nothing to explain brotha I got yo back.”

KU athletic director Travis Goff also voiced his support on X.

“These aren’t Jayhawks. They’re not ours,” Goff responded on X. “Driven by gambling and hate. They’ve never competed a day in their life. To Zeke and all our guys - the Jayhawk family loves you and will always ride with you through thick and thin.”

It’s not the first time Mayo has received social media backlash. After KU’s loss to Houston on Jan. 25, he temporarily deactivated his Instagram account.

On Saturday, Mayo scored five points on 1-for-7 shooting. He had five turnovers and missed some quality looks he often has made.

Notably, he missed a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:07 left. With eight seconds left, he had the chance to redeem himself as Kansas (19-10, 10-8 Big 12) trailed 76-73. Instead, Mayo air-balled a 3-pointer and No. 10 Texas Tech held on for the win.

“He hasn’t played as well here of late, but he’s been really good all season long and hopefully (will) get it out of his system,” coach Bill Self said of Mayo’s performance. “I’m not worried as much about shooting. That’s always been my thing. Shooters need to make shots, but I’m not worried as much about that. And it’s magnified when you don’t have a lot of (attempts).

“But I just think he can play better. And when you worry about playing better, you seem to shoot it better.”

It’s been a rough go for Mayo lately. Before Saturday’s matchup, Mayo had shot 33% from the floor between his last three games. He has shot 40% or worse from the field in seven of his previous 11 games.

Mayo entered the day averaging 14.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists, shooting 40.1% from 3 on the season. But he has scored just 30 points (7.5 per game) in his last four contests.

Earlier in the year, Mayo erupted for 23, 25, 26 and 27 points as part of a five-game stretch.

“He tried to get downhill early in the game,” Self continued on Saturday, “and really probably we’ve been on him about that as far as coming off tight and trying to get downhill to force help or go score. He tried to do that early and really came away with nothing.”

From that point on, Self said, Mayo was “a little hesitant.”

“That probably got him in a mindset where he is a little hesitant, but he had some open looks,” Self said. “He had a big one there on the right wing that was wide open and just didn’t go in a crucial part, but those things happen.”

____