Kansas Jayhawks Basketball at UNLV Runnin’ Rebels: KU Basketball takes care of business in Vegas

Kansas never trailed en route to a dominating 71-53 win over UNLV.

Recap

As has become typical, Kansas struck first and jumped out to early leads of 9-2 and 25-9. By the time halftime arrived, Kansas had built a 22-point lead at 42-20.

Things didn’t get much better for the Rebels, although they did go on a 15-7 “run” early in the second half, eventually cutting the deficit to 13 points at 51-38 with 13:27 to play. Another late run by UNLV got the game down to a 12 point margin at 64-52 with 4:00 left, but in reality, this one was over early and never in doubt.

This and That

With Azubuike out, Landen Lucas reclaimed a starting role in the Kansas lineup. Lucas didn’t score much, but hauled in 12 rebounds and had a pair of dimes.

Josh Jackson led all scorers with 21 points on 9-16 shooting. Jackson added 9 rebounds as well.

Svi also hit 20 points on 8-14 shooting, including 4-6 from behind the arc.

UNLV was only able to convert on 19-55 (34.5%) shots from the floor, including 5-24 (20.8%) from deep.

As a team, Kansas hit 7-20 (35.0%) 3-pointers.

The free throw struggles returned as KU only hit 8-17 (47.1%). Frank Mason missed 6 free throws (4-10) and Josh Jackson missed three (2-5).

Up Next

The Jayhawks will open up Big 12 play on Friday, December 30, at 8 PM in Fort Worth, TX, against TCU. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

We’ll have more on the UNLV game in the next day or two, but for now, the comments section is yours.