Kansas to Host Oklahoma on ESPN Big Monday

Kansas Returns Home for ESPN Big Monday
No. 11/14 Kansas (14-3, 3-1) returns to Allen Fieldhouse to host No. 19/20 Oklahoma (12-5, 3-2) on ESPN Big Monday, Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. The contest is the first of four ESPN Big Monday appearances for KU this season and KU is looking to win its 18-straight game inside Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks are coming off a 86-81 loss at No. 11/13 Iowa State Jan. 17. Oklahoma defeated Bedlam rival No. 24/24 Oklahoma State, 82-65, Jan. 17 in Norman, Oklahoma. Kansas head coach Bill Self is 339-72 in his 12th season at KU. In games following losses during his tenure, the Jayhawks are 63-8 with 39 of those victories in Allen Fieldhouse.
 
At the KU-OU contest, Kansas Athletics will honor former student-athletes who were instrumental in the desegregation of Lawrence during the late 1950s on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. (more on page 5)
 
About Kansas
No. 9/10 Kansas (14-3, 3-1) had its five-game winning streak come to an end with an 86-81 loss at No. 11/13 Iowa State Jan. 17. The Jayhawks are 9-0 in home games, 2-2 in road games and 3-1 on neutral floors this season. Kansas averages 71.5 points per game and has a +7.4 scoring margin. The Jayhawks have outrebounded 13 opponents, average 39.2 boards per contest and hold a +7.4 rebound margin. KU shoots 43.2 percent from the field and has outshot 12 foes this season. KU leads the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage at 38.9 percent. The Jayhawks also average 14.1 assists, 6.7 steals and 4.9 blocked shots per game.
 
Sophomore G Frank Mason III leads Kansas in scoring with a 12.9 average, which ranks ninth in the Big 12. He scored a career-high 21 points at Iowa State (1/17). Mason is third in the league in assists with 4.2 per game and fourth in free throw percentage at 82.5 percent. He also leads the Jayhawks with 24 three-pointers. He pulls down 4.1 rebounds per game. Junior F Perry Ellis is coming off his fourth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds at Iowa State (1/17). He is scoring at 12.6 points per outing, which is 11th in the Big 12 and his 6.6 rebound average is tied for sixth in the conference. Sophomore G Wayne Selden, Jr., is just behind Mason with 23 three-pointers made. Selden had 12 points at Iowa State and scores 9.2 points per game. He is second on the team with 55 assists. Rounding out the KU starters are freshman G Kelly Oubre, Jr., and junior F Jamari Traylor. Oubre is averaging 10.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals in Big 12 play. He averages 8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in 2014-15. Oubre’s 19 steals are second on the team to Mason’s 24 and he has made 17 three-pointers this season. Traylor scores 5.3 points per contest and pulls down 4.1 rebounds. He has eight blocked shots in his last five games and his 20 for the season are second on the team.
 
Freshman F Cliff Alexander leads Kansas in blocked shots with 24 and in field goal percentage at 57.3 percent after his 3-for-3 effort at Iowa State (1/17). He is 13-for-17 (76.5 percent) from the field in Big 12 play. Alexander scores 8.1 points per game and his 5.4 rebound average is second on the team behind Ellis. Alexander has multiple blocked shots in three of his last four games. Freshman G Devonte’ Graham returned to the lineup against Texas Tech (1/10) after missing a month (six games) with a sprained toe. In his three games back, Graham has averaged 7.0 points and 4.3 assists. In that span he has 13 assists and no turnovers. Graham is scoring 6.2 points per game. Sophomore G Brannen Greene has made 17 three-pointers this season, including a 5-for-5 effort at Georgetown (12/10). Greene has two starts and is scoring 4.8 points per game. Freshman G Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk scores 4.1 points per game and has made 14 three-pointers. Mykhailiuk has started six games in his initial campaign as a Jayhawk. Sophomore F Landen Lucas has started eight games this season and averages 2.2 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. He logged 12 minutes against Oklahoma State (1/13) and a career-high 19 minutes at Iowa State (1/17). Redshirt junior F Hunter Mickelson (1.8 ppg, 1.9 rpg) has pulled down seven rebounds in his last two games played.
 
About Oklahoma
Located in Norman, Oklahoma, with an enrollment of 30,753, Oklahoma rebounded from a two-game losing streak with an 82-65 win against No. 24/24 Oklahoma State Jan. 17. The Sooners are coached by Lon Kruger who is 70-43 in his fourth season at OU and 549-347 in his 29th season overall. Oklahoma averages 73.0 points per game and has a +11.7 scoring margin. The Sooners average 39.9 rebounds per game with a +2.1 rebound margin. They lead the Big 12 in defensive rebounds (29.5) and three-point percentage defense (28.4). OU makes 72.1 percent of its free throws, averages 6.8 three-point field goals made per contest and shoots 34.3 percent from beyond the arc.
 
Junior G Buddy Hield is Oklahoma’s leading scorer at 17.6 points per game which is second in the Big 12. Hield leads the conference with 3.0 three-point field goals made per game. He is also leads the team with 22 steals and averages 5.6 rebounds per game. Hield makes 81.8 percent from the free throw line. Junior G Isaiah Cousins scores 12.5 points and pulls down 5.7 rebounds per game. He has 20 steals and ranks third in the Big 12 with a 44.4 three-point field goal percentage and fifth with 1.9 threes made per contest. Senior F TaShawn Thomas leads the Sooners with 26 blocked shots and he scores 11.5 points per game. He pulls down 5.9 rebounds per game and his 56.6 field goal percentage is second in the Big 12. Junior F Ryan Spangler leads OU with 8.2 rebounds per game which is second in the Big 12. Spangler averages 9.5 points per game and is shooting 55.4 percent from the field. Sophomore G Jordan Woodard rounds out the OU starters. He leads OU with 4.5 assists per game, which is second in the league, and scores 7.9 points per game. Woodard has 21 steals. Junior G Dinjiyl Walker (5.4 ppg), freshman F Khadeem Lattin (2.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg) and senior F D.J. Bennett (2.3 ppg) round out the OU regulars.
 
The Kansas-Oklahoma Series
This series between Kansas and Oklahoma dates back to 1920 when both schools were members of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Kansas leads, 141-65. Since 2006, the Jayhawks have won 12 of the last 13 meetings against the Sooners. OU ended a KU 10-game winning streak with a 72-66 victory in Norman, Oklahoma (2/9/13). Kansas is 71-16 against Oklahoma in games played in Lawrence, including a 44-7 record in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks have defeated the Sooners 13-straight times in Allen Fieldhouse beginning Jan. 10, 1994. Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference, Kansas is 20-5 against Oklahoma; 18-3 in regular-season play and 2-2 in the Big 12 Championship. Kansas head coach Bill Self is 13-4 all-time against Oklahoma, including 13-2 while at KU. Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger is 6-15 versus Kansas, 1-5 while at OU.
 
What’s Trending

• The NCAA is listing statistics and Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) on a regular basis. Through games of Jan. 18, Kansas is No. 3 nationally in the RPI.
• Kansas has outrebounded 13 of 17 opponents this season with a 12-1 record in those contests. Seven of those games have been by double figures. Included are the last two and four of the last six games.
• Kansas leads the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage at 38.9 percent. The Jayhawks also rank in the upper half of the conference in scoring offense (fifth at 71.5), free throw percentage (third at 71.4), rebounding (fourth at 39.2), rebounding defense (tied for fourth at 31.9), rebound margin (third at +7.4), assists (fifth at 14.1), blocked shots (fifth at 4.9), steals (fifth at 6.7) and assist-to-turnover ratio (fifth at 1.1).
• KU had a season-high 24 assists against Texas Tech (1/10), its third game this season with 22-plus dimes. KU has averaged 17.2 assists in its last six games. The Jayhawks average 14.1 assists per game in 2014-15.
• Six different Jayhawks have led KU in scoring over its last 11 games.
• Sophomore G Frank Mason III scored a career-high 21 points at Iowa state (1/17) and is averaging 18.5 points in his last two games. He has scored in double figures in each of KU’s last 14 contests, which is tops on the KU team.
• Freshman G Kelly Oubre, Jr., has started the last eight games, nine games total, for Kansas this season. In his last eight starts, Oubre has averaged 13.1 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three-point range. He also has 16 steals (2.0 spg) in that span. Oubre is averaging 8.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 1.1 steals for the season.
• Junior F Perry Ellis recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds at Iowa State (1/17). Ellis has 19 rebounds in his last two games and has made multiple three pointers in two of his last three contests.
• Freshman F Cliff Alexander is 13-for-17 (76.5 percent) from the field in his last four games with seven blocked shots.
• Freshman G Devonte’ Graham missed six games due to an injury. In his three games back, Graham is averaging 7.0 points and has 13 assists with no turnovers.
• Sophomore G Wayne Selden Jr.’s 12 points at Iowa State (1/17) were his most in Big 12 play this season and the most since scoring 16 points versus UNLV (1/4).
• Redshirt junior F Hunter Mickelson pulled down four rebounds in three minutes at Iowa State (1/17).
• Sophomore G Brannen Greene has made 21-straight free throws dating back to last season, including 17-for-17 in 2014-15. The Kansas record for consecutive free throws is 36 by Sherron Collins during the 2008-09 season. At Baylor (1/7), Greene scored 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 2-for-3 from three-point range. It was his first multi-three game since his 5-for-5 effort at Georgetown (12/10).
• Seven Big 12 teams are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 (Jan. 12) which is more than any other conference. Nine of the 10 Big 12 teams have been ranked at one point during the 2014-15 season.
• At 104-22 (82.5 percent), the Big 12 is the only league nationally to have an 80 percent or better winning percentage against non-conference foes.

KU to Honor Former Student-Athletes on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Kansas Athletics will honor former student-athletes who were instrumental in the desegregation of Lawrence during the late 1950s on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day when Kansas men’s basketball hosts Oklahoma on ESPN Big Monday, Jan. 19, at 8 p.m.
 
When Wilt Chamberlain, Homer Floyd and Ernie Shelby arrived at Kansas in the mid-1950s they found a heavily-segregated community in which they were not allowed to dine in local restaurants, were refused service at barber shops and denied use of public swimming facilities. Along with Kansas All-American track star Charlie Tidwell, these young men stood up against the injustices of discrimination in the Lawrence community.
 
In 1957, during a meeting with then-Chancellor Dr. Franklin Murphy, they expressed their intention to leave KU if these issues were not addressed. Chancellor Murphy, inspired in part by this meeting, soon increased efforts to encourage change in the community surrounding KU.  He then reported back to the students that the businesses of Lawrence had agreed to change their policies.
 
Following this historic meeting and progress of the desegregation of Lawrence, Chamberlain, Floyd and Shelby again made history as KU’s first African-American team captains.  Never before had the captains of three major NCAA Division I sports; basketball, football and track and field, been African-Americans in adjacent years.  Tidwell and Shelby would also lead KU to the 1959 outdoor track and field national title.
 
As part of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations, Kansas Athletics, in partnership with the Office of Multicultural Affairs, will welcome Floyd and Shelby back to campus. While visiting campus, they will participate in a candlelight vigil and walk from Strong Hall to the Kansas Union for a special social justice celebration. Later that evening they will be honored in Allen Fieldhouse during the Kansas men’s basketball game against Oklahoma.
 
Jayhawks on ESPN Big Monday
For the ninth-straight season, the Kansas men’s basketball team will make four appearances on ESPN’s Big Monday. In the Big 12 era, Kansas and Oklahoma have faced each other on ESPN Big Monday eight times. Since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996-97, Kansas is 52-17 all-time on ESPN’s Big Monday (29-1 at home, 23-16 on the road), including 33-9 under head coach Bill Self. Additionally, KU has won 22-straight ESPN Big Monday games in Allen Fieldhouse, which includes an 18-0 mark under Self.
 
Versus Ranked Teams
With its 86-81 loss at No. 11 Iowa State on Jan. 17, under KU head coach Bill Self, since the 2003-04 season, Kansas is 58-31 against Associated Press-ranked teams, including 4-2 in 2014-15. In each of the last five seasons the Jayhawks have a winning record versus ranked foes, including a 7-3 mark in 2013-14. Since the 2009-10 season, KU is 36-14 against AP ranked teams.
 
Historic Allen Fieldhouse Celebrating 60 Years
Kansas is currently playing its 60th season in historic Allen Fieldhouse, which has been deemed the greatest place to watch a college basketball game. The Jayhawks have sold out of 220-straight games in the Fieldhouse and are 721-109 (86.9 percent) all-time in the facility. At 183-9 (95.3 percent) in 12 seasons, Bill Self has won more Big 12 titles (10) than lost home games (9) in Allen Fieldhouse.
 
Dedicated on March 1, 1955, in a 77-67 win against rival Kansas State, here are some notables regarding Allen Fieldhouse:

• Allen Fieldhouse has sold out each of its last 220 games back to the 2001-02 season.
• Kansas won its 700th regular-season game in Allen Fieldhouse with an 80-63 victory against ULM on Nov. 18, 2013. KU is 721-109 all-time in the venue.
• Five of the eight KU head coaches have coached in Allen Fieldhouse. Ted Owens has the most victories with 206, followed by Roy Williams (201), Bill Self (183), Larry Brown (71), Dick Harp (51) and Phog Allen (9).
• Starting with Wilt Chamberlain in 1957, 12 of KU’s NCAA-leading 28 Consensus All-American First Team selections played in Allen Fieldhouse.
• Kansas has led its league in home attendance each of the last 27 seasons dating back to 1986-87 and 32 times in the last 36 years.
• KU is second all-time winningest program in NCAA Division I history with 2,140 wins and the Jayhawks won victories 1,000, 1,100, 1,200, 1,300, 1,400 and 1,900 in Allen Fieldhouse. The 1,900th all-time win also won the 2007 Big 12 regular-season title outright.
• Kansas has won 31-straight home season finales in Allen Fieldhouse, including 30 consecutive Senior Nights. In 2006-07, Kansas did not have a senior on its roster.
• From 2006-13 Kansas won 68-straight games against non-conference competition in Allen Fieldhouse.
• Bill Self is 183-9 in games played at Allen Fieldhouse for a 95.3 winning percentage, which includes four of Kansas’ 17 undefeated home seasons.
• Self’s Big 12 conference titles (10) are more than his home losses while at Kansas (9).
• Kansas’ school-record 69-game home-court winning streak from Feb. 7, 2007 to Jan. 22, 2011, led the nation for more than two seasons and ranks 11th all-time in the NCAA records book.
• Kansas is 125-3 in Allen Fieldhouse in its last 128 games.

 
Up Next
Kansas will hit the road for two games when it plays at Texas on Saturday, Jan. 24, at 1 p.m., on CBS and at TCU on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 8 p.m., on ESPNU. The Jayhawks will return to Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday, Jan. 31, to host Kansas State at 1 p.m. on either ESPN or ESPN2.
 
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