LAWRENCE, Kan. – Third-ranked Kansas basketball blocked 12 shots en route to an 89-72 victory over former conference foe Nebraska on Saturday afternoon inside Allen Fieldhouse. It marked KU’s ninth-straight win and 750th win inside its historic venue – 212 of which have been under the direction of head coach Bill Self.
Senior national player of the year candidate Frank Mason III led the Jayhawks in scoring with 18 points while dishing out a game-high seven assists with no turnover for the second-straight game. Five Jayhawks joined Mason with double-figure points, including freshman guard Josh Jackson (17 points), junior guard Sviatislav Mykhailiuk (15), junior guard Devonte’ Graham (14), and senior center Landen Lucas (12).
Kansas (9-1) kept shooting the ball with a hot hand, finishing the day with a 59.6 percent clip from the field. The Jayhawks end a five-game homestand in Allen Fieldhouse with a 57.4 shooting percentage.
KU held Nebraska (5-5) to 39.1 percent shooting behind a season-high 12 blocks, including five from Jackson and four from freshman 7-footer Udoka Azubuike. The Huskers were led by a 22-point effort from guard Tai Webster.
Nebraska scored the first bucket of the game and was able to maintain a lead for the first five minutes of regulation before Mason drained a 3-pointer at the 15-minute mark of the first half. The momentum-swinging shot gave Kansas a 12-10 lead that would not be surrendered for the remainder of the day. On the go-ahead play, Jackson rebounded his own missed jumper and kicked it out to Mason on the wing for a wide-open trey.
Mason went on to weave the ball through the Nebraska defense to empower his teammates’ scoring – connecting with Lucas for an alley-oop flush and feeding freshman Mitch Lightfoot on a pick-and-roll and-1 layup as the Jayhawks worked to a 23-15 lead.
Mykhailiuk looked as comfortable as ever on James Naismith Court as he displayed his wide range of skills from blocking a fastbreak Husker layup, draining 3-pointers, and creating his own offense on a steal and coast-to-coast finish for a layup which put Kansas up 41-26.
Mykhailiuk scored 13 first-half points as Kansas went into halftime with a 54-34 lead and its third-straight half with at least 50 points. Graham ended the half with a 3-point buzzer-beater to give Kansas its 20-point scoring margin at the break.
Although the Jayhawks’ double-digit halftime lead was never in danger, the Huskers outscored KU in the second half, 38-35.
Nebraska cut KU’s lead to 14 points before Jackson helped assure that it would be the closest the Huskers would get.
Jackson made back-to-back buckets to give Kansas a 72-54 lead, and down the stretch he finished a pair of alley-oops from teammates Lucas and Graham, respectively. Graham’s lob to Jackson was the last points of the game, giving KU an 89-72 lead with 1:22 remaining.
UP NEXT
After the University of Kansas conducts final exams during the week of Dec. 12, the Jayhawks will conclude a six-game homestand against Davidson in the Jayhawk Shootout at Sprint Center on Saturday, Dec. 17 (6 p.m., ESPN2).