Kansas Holds off Texas 69-64

Kansas and Texas went back and forth all afternoon long in a highly entertaining, up and down the court affair.

The largest lead in the first half for both teams was three points, and Texas went into halftime with a 34-31 lead.  The first half saw 13 blocked shots, 7 by Kansas and 6 by Texas.  The officiating, at least in the first half, was, shall we say, inconsistent.  I saw at least two fouls called on layups where there was no contact, and then the next trip down the floor someone would get hammered and, shocker, no call.

Anyway, the second half was more of the same until Texas managed to build a six-point, 48-42 lead at the 11:46 mark at which point, frequent commenter Commercialeer changed his shirt to help the team.  KU would fight back and reclaim the lead for themselves at 56-54 on a Frank Mason three-pointer with 6:33 left.  Kansas stretched the lead to four points a short time later, but could never separate themselves from the 'Horns.  After a shot-clock violation gave Texas the ball down 66-64 with 13 seconds left, Isaiah Taylor went through the lane uncontrolled and turned it over.  Kelly Oubre sank two free throws with 6.1 seconds left and the Jayhawks salted away a tough, tough victory.

All told, there were 24 blocked shots in the game, 14 by Texas and 10 by Kansas.

Perry Ellis was huge for the Jayhawks with 28 points on 9/21 shooting.  Kelly Oubre added 15 more on 4/9 shooting and Frank Mason chipped in 12 on 5/13 shooting.

Kansas managed to outrebound Texas 41-39.  Perry Ellis grabbed 13(!!!) boards and Kelly Oubre chipped in 9 more.

As a team, Kansas only shot 1/8 (12.5%) from 3-pt range while Texas went 6/20 (30%).  Kansas hit 26/32 (81.3%) free throws to Texas' 12/18 (66.7%).

Up next, Kansas will host West Virginia in Allen Fieldhouse West on Tuesday, March 3 at 8 PM Jayhawk time.