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Kansas traveled to conference foe Texas for an early afternoon tip and boy, what a great college basketball game.
The game started on a bit of a sour note, with Kansas finding themselves down 8-0 just three minutes into the game. Texas continued to lead until a Perry Ellis jumper gave KU a 17-15 lead with 9:42 left until halftime. Texas would tie it a couple of times, but couldn't retake the lead and KU went into halftime with a two point advantage, 32-30, and the folks in the open game thread were feeling pretty good.
The lead would alternate back and forth for a while in the second half, and with 14:39 remaining, KU found themselves trailing 44-39. From that point on, it was pretty much all Kansas, as a Cliff Alexander dunk, Wayne Selden three, and Brannen Greene three gave KU a 47-44 lead.
The Jayhawks would never trail again. By the 9:00 mark, KU had a five point lead. By the 6:00 mark, it was a seven point lead. And KU finally went up by 10 at the 4:13 mark. The Jayhawks kept Texas at arm's length the rest of the way, and finished with a 75-62 victory.
Kansas only played 8 players this game, and the more remarkable stat is this - KU did not give up a turnover in the second half.
Cliff Alexander came off the bench to lead the Jayhawks in scoring with 15 points on 6/11 shooting. Brannen Greene and Perry Ellis each added 14 while Frank Mason put in 12. Isaiah Taylor of Texas led all scorers with 23 on 8/17 shooting.
Each team pulled in 37 rebounds on the day. Alexander collected nine and Kelly Oubre picked up six more boards. Kansas had 13 assists, led by Mason's 4.
KU shot 6/18 (33%) from 3-pt range compared to UT's 3/18 (16%). Brannen Greene was KU's primary threat, going 4/5 from beyond the arc.
Kansas nailed 15/19 (79%) free throws while Texas went 11/15 (73%) from the stripe.
Up next for Kansas, the Jayhawks will travel to Fort Worth to play in TCU's temporary high-school gym home and take on the Horned Frogs on Wednesday, January 28, at 8 PM Jayhawk time.