Kansas Defeats Texas Tech To Retain Two Game Lead Atop Big 12

It didn't start out pretty at all, as the Jayhawks scored just .72 points per possession in the first half, but Kansas rebounded to put up 1.2 points per trip, holding Tech to just .84 points per possession. Thanks to the win, Kansas re-took the lead as the top efficiency team in the league, outscoring its opponents by .14 points per trip during the conference season (second place OU is at +.132, Baylor and ISU are at +.062). One under the radar reason that leads me to believe Kansas is the best team in the Big 12 by an even bigger margin than that, though, is how Kansas's next game always seems to be against the 2nd-4th best team in the league (which of course means they get knocked down after Kansas beats them).

On the night, the Jayhawks recovered from an awkward first half to shoot 51.7 percent on twos and 55 percent on threes, and they took 20 threes compared to 29 twos. Bill Self doesn't like to shoot that many threes, of course, but hopefully someone could point him to how well Kansas does as a whole offensively when they shoot that many of them (more on this later).

It wasn't all rosy, as Kansas turned it over on 23 percent of its possessions, and though they are still second in the league at taking care of the ball, they are starting to trend in a dangerous direction.

Defensively, Kansas forced Tech into a lot of tough shots, and while some of them fell in the first half, Kansas held the Red Raiders to 38.9 percent shooting on twos, and 22.2 percent shooting on threes. The Jayhawks had a decent steal percentage (9.8 percent) and allowed the Red Raiders to rebound just 33.3 percent of their misses.

In all, it could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse and the Jayhawks have just three road games remaining.

• Wayne Selden made a layup(!) and was also 4-7 beyond the arc, and he's now shooting 49 percent on threes during Big 12 play. He also had four rebounds and three assists.
• Frank Mason was lights out yet again, going 2-4 on twos, 2-2 on threes, and dishing out 8 assists while turning it over just once.
  
• Perry Ellis might not be back? Tech isn't exactly stout inside, but Ellis was just 4-11 on twos, though he did have 9 rebounds.
• Cliff Alexander committed turnovers in both of his first two possessions, but that was it for him for the game, and he finished with 10 points on 4-5 shooting, grabbed 5 rebounds, and had 4 blocks.
  
• Kelly Oubre was 2-5 on threes, and played some good on ball defense, but struggled a bit in other areas of the game, dishing out just 1 assist and committing 2 turnovers.
• Jamari Traylor played 19 minutes, didn't take a shot, and had 2 rebounds and a blocked shot.
• Brannen Greene had his first dunk of the season, and was 2-3 on threes. Greene is now shooting 52.3 percent beyond the arc, and 62.5 percent in conference play.
• Devonte Graham had equal number of assists and turnovers. The horror. He also didn't make a shot in what was probably his worst game of the season. Fortunately it came at a time when we could afford it.
• Landen Lucas had 3 points and 3 rebounds in 11 minutes, and also played some good interior defense.
• #FreeSvi will probably have to wait a year, as Mykhailiuk didn't do much with his 9 minutes.