Coming off one of the most impressive performances in Kansas tournament history, a 98-66 dismantling of Purdue, the Jayhawks are one win away from returning to the Final Four for the first time since 2012.<\/p>\n
Kansas (31-4) is in their seventh Elite Eight appearance under head coach Bill Self and will face No. 3 seed Oregon (32-5) on Saturday at 7:49 p.m. inside the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been five years since Kansas has been able to break through to the Final Four, but this team is on a hot streak parallel to very few teams in tournament history. Kansas is the first team since UConn in 1995 to score at least 90 points in its first three tournament games.<\/p>\n
Bill Self and the team know the remainder of the tournament will not come as easy as the first couple of games.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re going to get there (the national championship) then we\u2019re going to have to sweat one out. We know that,\u201d Self told reporters Friday afternoon. \u201cTomorrow will be a highly competitive game, we believe, regardless of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Kansas and Oregon came up one game short of reaching the Final Four last year. Kansas dropped a tightly contested battle against Villanova, and Oregon came up short versus Buddy Hield and the Oklahoma Sooners.<\/p>\n
Junior guard Devonte’ Graham was asked about the loss to Villanova last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was, you know, tough trying to get over that game. We could have executed a little bit better down the stretch,” Graham said. \u201c We\u2019re back here again, and we\u2019re just excited to be here and being able to play in this Elite Eight game again and possibly make the Final Four.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kansas relies on four guards in their starting lineup because of lack of post depth, while Oregon plays small with the loss of 6-10 forward Chris Boucher to a torn ACL in the Pac-12 conference tournament.<\/p>\n
“They’re like us,” Self said. “They’re going to play small a lot of the time because they will play Dillon (Brooks) at the 4 like we play Josh and then play the best defender in the Pac-12, Defensive Player of the Year (Jordan Bell) around the middle, kind of like we do Landen (Lucas). So I think it will be two teams that at least match up with each other pretty well,\u201d Self said about Oregon.<\/p>\n
If Oregon were to come out on top Saturday night it would be their first Final Four since 1939.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Kansas VS Oregon<\/p>\n
83.9 \u00a0Scoring \u00a079.1<\/p>\n
49.2 \u00a0FG% \u00a048.3<\/p>\n
41.1 \u00a03FG% \u00a038.1<\/p>\n
38.9 \u00a0Rebounds \u00a036.5<\/p>\n
16.3 \u00a0Assists \u00a016.1<\/p>\n
71.8 \u00a0Points allowed \u00a065.6<\/p>\n
Projected Starters:<\/p>\n
Kansas<\/strong> Oregon<\/strong> Tune into 90.7 FM for the game on Saturday, as Nick Lewis is joined by Mac Moore on the call. Pregame starts at 7 PM.<\/p>\n Follow us on Twitter:<\/strong><\/p>\n KJHK \u2013 @kjhk<\/a><\/p>\n KJHK Sports \u2013 @KJHKsports<\/a><\/p>\n
\nG- 00 Frank Mason (5-11, 190, Sr.) \u2013 20.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 5.2 apg
\nG- 04 Devonte\u2019 Graham (6-2, 185, Jr.) \u2013 13.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 4.3 apg
\nG- 10 Svi Mykhailiuk (6-8, 205, Jr.) \u2013 9.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.4 apg
\nG- 11 Josh Jackson (6-8, 207, Fr.) \u2013 16.6 ppg, 7.1 apg, 2.9 apg
\nC- 33 Landen Lucas (6-10, 250, Sr.) \u2013 8.1 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 1.0 apg<\/p>\n
\nF- 01 Jordan Bell (6-9, 225, Jr.)\u201410.9 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.8 apg
\nG- 03 Payton Pritchard (6-2, 200, Fr.)\u20147.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.7 apg
\nG- 05 Tyler Dorsey (6-4, 195, So.)\u201414.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.8 apg
\nF- 24 Dillon Brooks (6-7, 225, Jr.)\u201416.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.7 apg
\nG- 31 Dylan Ennis (6-2, 195, Sr.)\u201410.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.1 apg<\/p>\n