KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Josh Jackson notched his first career double-double to help lead No. 5/6 Kansas basketball to a 65-54 win over Georgia in the finals of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic on Tuesday night at Sprint Center.
Kansas (4-1) wins its second CBE Hall of Fame Classic title in the history of the event.
A night after scoring 22 points against UAB, Jackson notched 15 points and 11 rebounds against the Bulldogs to earn MVP honors. Senior guard Frank Mason III led the Jayhawks with 19 points and junior guard Devonte’ Graham added 14 points with four steals to join Jackson on the All-Tournament team.
The dynamic trio of guards clocked 35 minutes or more of playing time each while combining to account for 48 of KU’s 65 points on the night.
KU’s big men got into foul trouble early, forcing the Jayhawks to use a smaller four-guard lineup and a rare 2-3 zone defensive front for the majority of the game. But the Jayhawks defense held up, limiting Georgia to 32 percent shooting and out-scoring the ‘Dogs in the paint, 32-24.
Georgia (3-2) was led by Yante Maten, who finished with more than half of the Bulldogs’ offensive production, scoring 30 points on 11-of-23 shooting in 36 minutes.
Junior transfer forward Dwight Coleby saw the most playing time of his Jayhawk career, finishing with four blocks and four rebounds in 20 minutes of action.
While Jackson fueled a quick start by the Jayhawks, making four of his first five shots, starting big men sophomore Carlton Bragg Jr., senior Landen Lucas, and freshman reserve Udoka Azubuike all had two fouls at the 8:39 mark of the first half. Coleby checked in to play the post in a four-guard rotation for the majority of contest.
The Bulldogs made just 1-of-16 field goal attempts in the closing moments of the first half as Kansas went into the locker room with a 35-25 lead.
In the second half, Mason took the ball full-court for a vintage fastbreak and-1 layup to give Kansas a 46-34 advantage. Coleby scored his first basket of the season, a dunk, to give Kansas its largest lead of the game, 52-34 with 10:54 remaining.
A steal by Mason produced a fastbreak outlet to Graham, who assisted Lagerald Vick for an and-1 layup to give Kansas a 57-40 lead, after he converted the free throw, with seven minutes remaining in regulation.
Georgia went on an ensuing 9-0 run reduce KU’s lead to single digits, but the Jayhawks kept the Bulldogs at bay on the way to the 65-54 victory.
UP NEXT
Kansas returns to Allen Fieldhouse to face UNC Asheville in a CBE Hall of Fame Classic host game on Friday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. Central.