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Ho hum, amirite? Kansas gets out of Stillwater with a hard-fought, 90-85 victory.
Recap
Both offenses were humming early on, with KU’s Frank Mason opening up the scoiring with a 3-pointer just 43 seconds into the game. Oklahoma State was able to keep pace with the Jayhawks, however, as KU led by just two at the 10-minute mark, 24-22. After Oklahoma State closed to within 31-28 a few minutes later, Kansas ripped off a 12-4 run to take an 11-point lead at 43-32. However, OSU would finish the half on an 8-0 run of their own, making it 43-40 at the break.
The Cowboys would score the first four points after halftime to take their first lead of the game on a Jawun Evans layup, 44-43, but there was still 18:57 left on the clock. Kansas responded with a Devonte Graham three, and the two teams would exchange blows for a few minutes. With the game tied at 55-all, Mason hit a 3-pointer with 14:30 left, and Kansas would slowly rebuild its lead.
Kansas held a 9-point lead after a pair of Lagerald Vick free throws with just 5:38 to go, but as we all know, five minutes in the Big 12 is an eternity. Less than a minute later, OSU was within four points, and race to the finish line was on. A Jeffrey Carroll three-pointer with 19 seconds left cut the KU lead to 88-85. KU beat the press with a flag route pass to Vick, who laid it in with 14 seconds left. Phil Forte got up a contested shot, but missed. KU corralled the rebound and time ran out on the Cowboys, who saw the Jayhawks escape with a 90-85 victory.
This and That
Frank Mason, POY. Seriously. Dude put up 27 points on 9-16 shooting, and added 8 rebounds and 9 assists for good measure.
Frank is the first player in Big 12 history to average over 20.0 points per game AND over 5.0 assists per game.
OSU’s Jawun Evans was impressive, too, getting 22 points but on 7-18 shooting. His big stat was 15 assists.
Kansas hit 9-21 (42.9%) three pointers, and 13-17 (76.5%) free throws.
Up Next
Kansas will face the winner of Oklahoma-TCU in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday, March 9, at 1:30 PM in Kansas City on ESPN2.
We’ll have more on the OSU game in the next day or two, but for now, the comments section is yours.