For awhile, it seemed as if Senior Night wouldn’t quite have the ending that many people assumed it would.
After coming out sluggish, the Kansas Jayhawks found themselves tied at 28 at halftime against the Oklahoma Sooners. And when the Sooners went up 12 with around 10 minutes remaining in the second half, it seemed as though Kansas was in real danger of losing.
But of course, as often happens at Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas pulled it out. Frank Mason, Landen Lucas, and Tyler Self, three seniors that have each meant so much to this program in their own respective ways, were sent out with a 73-63 win over Oklahoma.
The poor first 30 minutes of the game can be characterized by one word: turnovers. Kansas finished with 19 turnovers, one off of their season high set in the overtime loss to Iowa State at Allen Fieldhouse.
The main culprit was freshman Josh Jackson, who finished with eight giveaways, and was often way out of control driving to the hoop in transition. I’m all for Kansas pushing the tempo with this group, but it sure looked bad at times on Monday night. Mason also turned the ball over four times.
The 31-9 run that Kansas closed the game on was sparked by Mason, as it almost always has been this year. He cut the lead to 10 with a layup, and Lagerald Vick got it to seven with a three-pointer. Following a bucket by Oklahoma, Kansas converted on their patented base-line out-of-bounds alley-oop play.
A Mason steal led to another three by Vick, who was arguably Kansas’ MVP in this one, finishing with 11 points off of the bench, and going 3-3 from downtown. A layup by Jackson would later cut the lead to two, setting the table for Devonte’ Graham to hit three straight threes in a span of about two minutes to put Kansas up seven and essentially end the game.
Mason led Kansas in scoring with 23 points, and he also added 6 assists. Graham put in 16, and Jackson finished with a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds. Landen Lucas had 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks in his last game at Allen Fieldhouse
For Oklahoma, Kameron McGusty led the way with 14 points, while Khadeem Lattin and Kristian Doolittle each added 12.
Other notes from the game:
I’m pretty tired of talking about Carlton Bragg at this point, so I’ll just say that he was not very good again in 13 minutes off the bench, and at one point got benched for Dwight Coleby. He had 1 point, 5 rebounds, and this highlight:
https://twitter.com/BedStuy4Ever/status/836419056454549504
Lagerald Vick played 22 minutes in this game, compared to Svi Mykhailiuk’s 18. Frankly, it was clear to see why. Mykhailiuk was invisible for much of his time out there, and was just 0-2 from three. If he’s not knocking down threes, there really isn’t any reason to have him out there over Vick at this point, considering the defensive abilities of Vick. And it pains me to say, because I really do think Mykhailiuk could be a great defender, and I would even say that we have seen him be a great defender before. He’s just been lost on both ends of the court for about a month now. He needs to be better, and hopefully once the shots start falling again, he will find himself.
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