Jayhawks grill Longhorns, 80-70

Kansas dispatched Texas with relative ease on Monday night to clinch the Big 12 outright and yet another senior night victory by an 80-70 final score.

The Jayhawks, who haven’t dropped a game on senior night since 1983, played even with Texas for the first seven minutes or so of the game before a 14-0 run by Kansas, capped by a Svi jumper, gave KU a 27-13 lead with nine minutes to go until the break. Texas used all of their timeouts save one as KU cruised to a 45-32 halftime lead.

Texas would push Kansas bit in the second half, closing to within 51-45 just five minutes into the second half, but the Jayhawks wouldn’t have it. Marcus Garrett and Malik Newman quickly pushed the lead back out to nine, and the Jayhawks never really looked back.

Senior walk-on Clay Young started and played the first four minutes of the game, and came in with under 30 seconds left only to immediately check back out for the first curtain call of the night. Svi Mykhailiuk followed, and Devonte Graham left the game with 14.3 seconds remaining. The Rock Chalk Chant echoed throughout Allen Fieldhouse, and the Jayhawks took the W, 80-70.

Kansas torched an admittedly shorthanded Texas club (Mo Bamba was out due to injury) to the tune of 60.3% shooting from the floor. Udoka Azubuike led all scorers with 20 points on 10-11 shooting, adding five blocks and eight rebounds to go along with just two turnovers and more importantly, two fouls. The only blemish on Udoka was the 0-4 from the stripe, including an air-ball.

Devonte Graham only had 10 points on 4-9 shooting, but sparked Kansas early with a couple of threes, and added 11 assists and 4 rebounds of his own.

Texas rebounded 30% of their misses, but overall struggled to make shots, hitting just 42.6% from the field, including just 9-28 (32.8%) threes.

Up next, the Jayhawks will travel to Stillwater for the regular season finale with Oklahoma State. Tip is scheduled for 3 PM on Saturday, March 3.