No. 4/5 Jayhawks shoot past 49ers, 91-61
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LAWRENCE, Kan. – A perfect shooting night from sophomore guard
The win gave Kansas (6-1) its sixth-straight win and moved its home-court winning streak, currently the longest active streak in the nation, to 45 games.
In his second-career start and second in as many games, Vick further made his case for a more permanent position in the starting rotation. The Memphis product began his career night by getting the
Vick’s hot start was quickly mimicked by his teammates. After 49er guard Justin Bibbins connected on a three-pointer to cut the KU lead to one at 14-13 just over eight minutes into the game, the
Three-straight threes from junior Devonte’ Graham, sophomore Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and freshman Josh Jackson keyed a run that pushed the Kansas lead into double-figures at 27-13 just over midway through the half.
An acrobatic layup by Graham just seconds before the halftime buzzer gave KU a 48-25 halftime lead and the
The 15-minute intermission didn’t do much to cool down the KU shooters. The
Mykhailiuk continued the scorching KU shooting from outside with three second-half treys. KU big men Udoka Azubuike and Carlton Bragg Jr., got into the KU scoring mix, combining for 13 points over the final 20 minutes with the help of some thunderous dunks and impressive plays on the blocks.
A Bragg slam at the 8:21 mark pushed the Kansas lead to a game-high 37 points at 80-43 and the
KU’s final points of the game came in fitting fashion, by way of a three-point strike from senior guard Tyler Self. Moments later the game came to an end with the
In its second-straight outing, Kansas shot 60 percent from the field, connecting on 34 of its 57 attempts. That included a season-high 14 three-pointers and 54 percent clip from long range.
While KU was drilling the
Vick led all scorers with his 23 points on 9-of-9 shooting and a career-high four threes. He was joined by five teammates who notched eight or more points. Azubuike brought down seven rounds to lead the
UP NEXT
Kansas continues its six-game home stand when it hosts Stanford on Dec. 3 at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN with tip set for 2:30 p.m. (CT). It will mark the return of Jerod Haase to KU. Haase was a standout Jayhawk guard from 1995-97 and is the head coach for the Cardinal. KU will then host UMKC on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m., on Jayhawk TV/ESPN3, Nebraska on Dec. 10 at 2:15 p.m., on ESPN, and Davidson at Sprint Center on Dec. 17, at 6 p.m., on ESPN2.
GAME NOTES
KU STARTERS (SEASON/CAREER STARTS):
Sr. G Frank Mason III (7/84)
So. G
Jr. G Devonte’ Graham (7/43)
Fr. G Josh Jackson (7/7)
Fr. C Udoka Azubuike (2/2)
SERIES INFO
- This marks the fifth time the two have met while Kansas leads the series 4-1 overall, playing the 49er’s undefeated in Allen
ATTENDANCE: 16,300 (246th-consecutive sellout)
KANSAS’ WIN…
- Moves the Bill Self era.
- Extends the nation’s longest home court winning streak to 45 games.
- Makes KU 748-109 all-time in Allen
- Improves Bill Self‘s record to 391-84 (.823) while at Kansas and 598-189 (.760) all-time.
- Gives KU an 209-9 (.959) home record under Bill Self.
- Moves KU’s all-time record to 2,192-837.
TEAM NOTES
- Kansas won their sixth-straight game, including its fifth win in just twelve days.
- Going into the locker room, Kansas led
- Kansas shot 18 of 27 from the field, marking its highest shooting percentage (66.7) at halftime this season.
- Kansas out-rebounded Long Beach State 41 to 24, making it the second-straight game KU’s rebound margin has been in double figures.
- Tuesday marks back-to-back 30-point victories for the
- Despite the big win, Kansas turned the ball over season-high 19 times.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Senior G Frank Mason
- Dished out eight assists to lead the Jayhawk offense, falling just one short of tying his career high in assists.
- Finished the night with eight points, breaking his six-game streak with double figures this season.
- Mason averages 19.6 points per game this season after Tuesday’s performances.
Junior G Devonte Graham
- Finished with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting for his most accurate shooting performance of the season.
- Tabbed his sixth game with double-figure points this season.
Sophomore G
- Finished the night with 23 points on a perfect 9-for-9 shooting from the field, including four 3-point baskets, setting a new career high in each of the three categories.
- Vick’s 9-for-9 shooting ties him with Tarik Black for the most field goals made without a miss during the Bill Self era at KU. Black also went nine-for-nine against Texas Tech on March 5, 2014.
- This marks his second consecutive game with double-digit scoring and the first game he has scored more than 20 points.
Freshman G Josh Jackson
- Recorded the sixth consecutive game of his Kansas career with double-figure scoring, finishing the night with 13 points.
- Racked up three steals on the night, matching his career high set in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic against UAB.
Freshman C Udoka Azubuike
- Crashed the boards for seven rebounds, including three offensive to keep the ball in play for Kansas.
- Has now led the
- Hit two-of-six from the free throw line, the most he has made in his career.
Junior G Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk
- Knocked down four shots from beyond the arc to tie the most three-pointers of his season so far.
Junior F Dwight Coleby
- Pulled down five rebounds to record a season best and most in his time as a Jayhawk.
QUOTES
Bill Self
On the outcome of the game:
“We did some good things offensively and defensively in the first half too. They had 25 points at halftime and five of them were kind of fortunate shots at the end of the clock where they kind of lucked them in. Then Svi (Mykhailiuk) miss-timed a jump that he had a defensive rebound and it gave them two points. We actually guarded them pretty well in the first half – in the second half we didn’t guard anybody and we lost all interest. We played unselfish in the first half and in bits of the second half, but we got pretty selfish there late. We didn’t look very good at all down the stretch. I think we had 84 points with about eight minutes left and we ended up with 86 with two minutes left. I think we went about five or six minutes scoring two points. We shared it, we shot it well. Obviously we’re not a great free throw shooting team. We have to get better there. There were some good things that happened tonight. Of course, Landen (Lucas) his foot is fine, but he’s got a little strain in his oblique or whatever it is in his side. We held him out for precautionary reasons. It was good to get a win under our belt.”
On
“He did have 10 field goals. We had one guy grab a guy, Carlton (Bragg) obviously grabbed a guy 90 feet from the basket to eliminate that basket or he would’ve tied the school record for the most efficient field goal percentage number of all-time. That’s a little disappointing because not too many guys have a chance to do that. They were hard shots – he was 9-for-9, but four of those were threes, it wasn’t like they were all layups.”
On Carlton Bragg Jr in the contest:
“I thought he did a couple of good things. He took himself totally out of the game in the first half with two bad fouls. The thing that’s so frustrating is he knew Landen (Lucas) wasn’t going to play. So he knew he was going to play a ton of minutes tonight and he took himself out of the game with two fouls in one minute. The second half he did a couple of good things. He got an offensive rebound and those sorts of things, but we have to have him playing at a higher level and hopefully tonight was a start to get a little bit of confidence back.”
On the matchup with Stanford on Saturday:
“I don’t really know much about them yet. I know that Jerrance (Howard) has the scout and I’ll start watching them tomorrow. Jerod (Haase) did such a good job at UAB and he’ll do a great job there at Stanford. They have a couple of guys – Reid Travis is a McDonald’s All-American that everybody wanted. We would’ve loved to have had him. They’ve got some other guys who are good players too. I don’t know exactly what their record is right now (6-1) but I think they’re off to a pretty good start. They’re going to trap the post and they’re going to do some things a little bit different so we have some things to work on this week.”
Kansas junior guard Devonte’ Graham
On how much
“[He’s improved] tremendously. This offseason he put in a lot of work. Everybody could see it coming. I remember talking during the summer about him being one of the biggest keys to our team. He’s been working on his game, his jump shot … he’s really explosive so he can get to the basket and finish at the rim.”
On if he knew about the record Vick almost broke:
“No, not until after the game.”
On Vick’s big night:
“You could just tell during the game, he was making every layup, every jump shot. I was just trying to keep finding him. I was telling everyone to keep giving him the ball so he could keep shooting.”
On the transition from being an inside-out team to a guard team:
“We’ve still got that same mentality. Coach (Self) is always telling us to play inside-out, but tonight we shot the ball well so we were just trying to be aggressive and keep attacking.”
On what the four-guard lineup does to their opponents’ defense:
“It’s hard (for them) because then defenses start to not help as much and we can get to the basket. If they’re packing in the paint, which Long Beach was yelling out, ‘Pack it in, pack it in. Weave, weave.’ So we were just knocking down shots because we were open.”
On KU’s unselfish play and working the ball around the perimeter:
“It’s just grown over time with us because earlier in the summer or earlier in the season, one of us would have shot the ball really quickly instead of making that extra pass. But I think everybody is trying to be unselfish, so that’s a good sign.”
On why he thinks defenses have played zone against them so much:
“Because it’s hard to keep us out of the paint. That’s all we talk about is getting paint touches, driving it downhill. Then we play four guards and all we really do is dribble-drive and then we kick out for shots or get easy buckets, so they try to zone us to keep us out of the lane.”
On guards getting more of those easy shots than the big men this season:
“We just attack and try to make plays for ourselves and others. Usually it’s going to be that extra pass that’s going to be open because it’s hard to guard everything when you have four guys that can attack the basket.”
On how the big guys are handling their slump this season:
“They’re doing really well. They’ve been going hard at each other in practice, so they’re getting better. They have been in that little slump, but I think definitely Carlton (Bragg Jr.), Landen (Lucas) and Udoka (Azubuike) are doing a great job getting better.”
On how KU can continue to play even faster than tonight:
“Early on Coach kept yelling, ‘Run, run, run!’ because we were jogging down the court. So it looked like we were playing fast, but we could be playing way faster.”
Kansas sophomore guard
On the record he almost broke tonight:
“Coach (Self) said something about it after the game. We were just trying to win the game.”
On the size of the basket tonight:
“It was pretty big.”
On how he played tonight compared to previous games:
“I think I played all right. I could have rebounded more.”
On how he felt on his second start:
“I felt pretty comfortable.”
On how he felt tonight:
“I definitely felt like I was going to have a good game.”
On tying his career high in points in the first half:
“Coach said something about it, but I just didn’t let it get to me. I just kept moving on. I wasn’t really focusing on that, I was just trying to win the game.”
On surprising himself during his two starts this season:
“Definitely, the team has been hyping me up and (I’m) just looking forward to playing better in the future.”
On his confidence:
“It feels pretty good, especially not shooting the ball well starting off and coming back a couple games and shooting the ball well. It definitely feels great.”
On adjusting his shot:
“It’s definitely just the little things. When I was shooting the ball earlier in the season I was kind of fading back, but then I watched film and I noticed the little things and just started going straight up and down.”
On how much fun he is having on the court:
“I’m having a lot of fun, especially with Devonte’ (Graham), Frank (Mason III) and Josh (Jackson) and the big fellas inside. (It’s) Definitely a lot of fun.”
On Josh Jackson’s pass to Svi Mykhailiuk:
“It was a great pass by Josh (Jackson) and a great run for Svi (Mykhailiuk), especially with the finish. It was just a great overall play.”
On what makes Jackson’s passing so good:
“His IQ of the game and he’s not a selfish player. He just knows the game.”
On assistant coach Kurtis Townsend’s help with his shot:
“He told me in a game at the Sprint Center, ‘You’re fading back.’ We got back here and one of my boys sent me a video of my shot. I just kept replaying it, noticed it and just started working on it.”
Kansas senior guard Frank Mason III
On if this is the fastest KU has played since he’s been here:
“I believe so. We’ve got a lot of guards out there who can get up and down the floor. Our bigs can run the floor pretty well, so I would say so.”
On if Coach Self is still pushing them to play faster:
“Yeah, Coach still thinks we could play a lot faster. We think we could play a lot faster, too, so we just have to find ways to pitch the ball ahead and get up the floor a little bit faster.”
Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson
Opening statement:
“Kansas is a great team. When you’re a great team and better than the opponent and you play harder than them, it gets ugly. I’m just disappointed in our guys, not how we played, but how we fought. To see us get out-rebounded like that and not fight more (was disappointing). We had one rebounding foul and we’re going to lose some because they are bigger and stronger and better athletes. But to not compete better than that, we got overwhelmed the first week of the season against teams very similar to this, the North Carolina’s, the Louisville’s and Wichita State and UCLA. To know that and identify our problem and to come out today and not improve, this is truly a preseason for Long Beach State. We’re here to get better and I appreciate Coach Self giving us the opportunity, but I’m disappointed we didn’t take advantage of it more.”
On where KU ranks compared to the other teams they have played this season:
“The problem is I don’t think you’re going to evaluate a team until they’ve been knocked backward a little bit. Unfortunately, we never made any of those teams I mentioned, nor Kansas, uncomfortable. In years past when we’ve done this schedule, we’ve forced them to call timeouts, we’ve forced them to adjust. Kansas shot 70 percent for most of the game until the end. We never saw how they handle adversity and that’s what separates the North Carolinas, the Louisvilles, to the Kansas’ is how they react when they’re frustrated and how they react when you’re taking something away. We just let all these teams get too comfortable, so it is really hard to judge, but they are so solid and I told our guys this team is going to take any mistake you make, and they are going to take advantage of it. Other teams may let you off the hook a little bit but everybody has those strengths and weaknesses at that level. I think Kansas is doing a great job of playing to its strengths right now. We had five turnovers at the half and they had nine points off of them.”
On taking any positives out of this trip:
“Yeah, the trip is over. We have Texas left. They might beat us as bad, but I don’t think they are playing to the level like Kansas or North Carolina or Louisville or UCLA or Wichita State. I made a mistake. I don’t want to sound like Tom Izzo, but we are overscheduled. We added the Louisville and Wichita State games last week and I don’t think the competition hurt us as much as it took away so many practices. We know where we’re at right now. We’ve only had two practices since the Wichita State game, our first road game, to work on ourselves. That’s my biggest regret on the scheduling — we’ve had nine games in two weeks.”
On the team being tired from all the travel and games:
“They are tired. That’s what we’re trying to create is adversity. For us to get to the NCAA Tournament we have to win three games in three days. They are going to be tired to do that, so we have to play through that. We’re trying to toughen them up and we weren’t very tough today. We have to handle it better. I’m not worried that we are 1-8, you could make an argument that a lot of teams on that schedule would be 1-8. That’s not the problem. Our problem is how we competed in those eight losses.”
His thoughts on
“That’s what makes Kansas an elite team. He’s not one that we were focused on. The game plan was trying to pack it in and make them beat us from the perimeter and help in and cast out. He just opened the game up with his shooting. The difference between Kansas and Long Beach State is we’ll have players that can shoot like that, but they can’t do the other things. When we looked at him in film today it was more of how aggressive he was and how he would go to the offensive boards and how aggressive he was at attacking. Now he’s able to shoot like that. Those players like Josh Jackson, what are you going to take away? They are so multidimensional at this level. You have to get them uncomfortable. The tone set was just ridiculous.”
Long Beach State junior guard Justin Bibbins
On his initial thoughts of the game:
“We just have to fight. I think this team is young, we still have a lot of learning to do. We came in here, they (Kansas) played harder than us and they had higher intensity.”
On whether or not there were any positives to take away from this loss:
“Definitely. We’re a young team. Coming on the road and learning how to play against a better, more experienced team on the road (taught us a lot). We can definitely take that (experience) into league play when we play teams like Irvine on the road.”
On what it was like preparing to go up against a team like Kansas:
“It’s just like any other team, we didn’t prepare any differently than we did for North Carolina and Louisville. We will prepare the same way when we play Irvine. It’s just another team.”
On whether or not he was surprised in the difference between actually playing Kansas and the preparation:
“Not at all, our coaches prepare us perfectly. They tell us everything that they’re going to do and they did everything that the coaches said they were going to do. We just have to listen more and come out next game (ready to play).”
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