Kansas defeats Vanderbilt to win Maui Invitational

Kansas fell behind Vanderbilt early by an 18-9 deficit 10 minutes into the game, but fought back, finding themselves down by only four at halftime.  The Jayhawks took the lead at 37-36 on a Wayne Selden free throw at the 16:46 mark of the second half, and would not trail again.  Kansas stretched their lead to 13 with 5:11 remaining and held off Vandy the rest of the way.

Final score - Kansas 70, Vanderbilt 63.

Stats

Wayne Selden led all scorers with 25 points.  Graham (12) and Mason (10) were the only other Jayhawks in double figures.

Mason led the Jayhawks with 3 assists.

Kansas outrebounded Vandy 39-32.  Ellis led the team with 8.

As a team, Kansas hit 8/16 (50.0%) from behind the arc.  Selden hit 4/6, Graham 3/5.  Svi only got up two 3s, hitting one.

No PT tonight for Clay Young, Tyler Self, or Evan Manning.

The was tied for 4 minutes, 35 seconds.

Kansas trailed for 17:49 and led for 17:36.

Takeaways

The Jayhawks struggled with Vandy's size early.  But something clicked midway through the first half, and KU took the lead for good shortly after halftime.

It helped that Vandy missed 21 3-pointers (6/27, 22.2%) - many of which were decent looks.

Svi only put up two 3-pointers in his 11 minutes tonight.  He did go 3/5 from the floor overall, though.

Nice to see this team keep taking (and hitting) 3s.

Up Next

KU hosts Loyola (Md) on Tuesday, Dec 1, at 7 PM in Allen Fieldhouse.  Be sure to tune in, as it will be Cheick Diallo's debut for Kansas.