Jayhawks Pull Away from Oklahoma State, Win 67-57

Oklahoma State came ready to play and it showed early as the Cowboys jumped out to a 9-4 lead five minutes into the game.  The Jayhawks would fight their way back into it, however, and once they took a 17-16 lead at the 11:28 mark of the first half, KU would not trail the rest of the way.  Kansas would go into halftime with a 32-28 lead, and would stretch their lead to 39-30 early in the second half and hold OSU at arm's length the rest of the way.

The story of this game may have been the refs.  There were 49 total fouls called in the game, 20 on KU and 29 on OSU.  Three technical fouls were called in the first half between the 13:50 mark and the 12:11 mark, two on KU (Alexander and Traylor) and one on OSU (Nash).  Oklahoma State turned those fouls into 22/25 at the line while KU went 32/46 from the charity stripe.

Frank Mason led KU with 16 points on 3/8 shooting.  Most of his points came from the free throw line where he was 9/11.  Kelly Oubre chipped in 14 points of his own on 3/5 shooting (7/12 from the line).

Kansas absolutely crushed Oklahoma State on the boards, winning the rebounding battle 43-26.  Mason led the way for KU with nine rebounds and Perry Ellis grabbed eight.

KU shot 3/12 from 3-pt while OSU went 3/16.

Up next for the Jayhawks, KU will Iowa State in Hilton Coliseum on Saturday, January 17, at 8:00 PM Kansas time.  To make things even more fun, Iowa State will be hosting College Gameday for the first time.