With a chance to win the Big 12 title outright, No. 1 Kansas crushed No. 23 Texas, 86-56, on the road in Austin, Tex., Monday night. Perry Ellis scored 20 points to lead the Jayhawks.
When the Texas Longhorns hired Shaka Smart to take over head coaching duties for the departing Rick Barnes, the world of social media was filled with tweets and posts about Kansas’ reign over the conference coming to an end.
A month ago, sitting at 5-3 with three-straight road losses, it sort of looked as though those premonitions were coming true.
Per usual, Bill Self and his team corrected some mistakes and subsequently went on a now 10-game winning streak and are the sole champions of the Big 12 for the 12th straight season.
Senior forward Perry Ellis led the Jayhawks with 20 points as his team jumped out to a 15-0 lead, hitting 6-of-8 shots while Texas missed its first 13 shots of the game. From then on, it was essentially over.
The Longhorns faced a brutally tough Kansas defense which clogged the lane and wouldn’t allow UT’s guards to get any clean looks or driving lanes.
Offensively, the Jayhawks shot 32-of-60 from the floor, good enough for 64-percent from the floor. On top of that, KU was 11-of-16 from three—just under 70-percent. It was a complete destruction of another top 25 team KU has faced in its 10-game winning streak.
Frank Mason III once again looked as though his legs and spring are back, controlling tempo and running the Kansas offense as smoothly as ever.
Many thought Kansas was due for a letdown after beating Texas Tech on Saturday to claim at least a share of the conference title, and with a home game remaining, a loss to Texas wouldn’t have been all that consequential.
For Texas, a team which used a 22-0 run in the second half to come back and dominate then-ranked No. 3 Oklahoma over the weekend, a senior night and highly anticipated chance at taking down No. 1 in the country was quickly spoiled rotten.
Javan Felix led the Longhorns with 13 points, but outside of that, no other player scored more than 9 points. Leading guard Isaiah Taylor ended the game 1-of-10 from the field with 5 points.
The highlight of the night—among many—for Kansas was Jamari Traylor’s ally-oop dunk in which he not only nearly hit his head on the rim, but skinned his elbow on the backboard after having to hold on to the basket for the and-1.
Overall is was complete dominance from a team which looks to be the favorite for the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Next up for the Jayhawks is a home finale against Iowa State for senior night, as well as the final call for long-time broadcasting great, Bob Davis. Seats are available for the home finale at Allen Fieldhouse at Tickets For Less. With zero hidden service fees, know what you’re paying up front, unlike our competitors which tack on extra fees. Don’t miss out on your chance to see the Jayhawks take the court in Lawrence for the last time this season. Rock Chalk!