Wayne Selden Jr. comes up big as #4 Kansas takes down #20 Kentucky in OT
- Alicea Ulmer
- Jan 31, 2016
- 2 min read
KU 90 UK 84 F
Jayhawks: Wayne Selden Jr. 33pts 12/20fg
Frank Mason III 13pts 3/11fg, 8 rebounds, 4 asst
Wildcats: Tyler Ulis 26pts 11/19fg, 8 asst, 3 steals
Jamal Murray 15pts 6/11fg, 6 rebounds
There was a lot of hype surrounding this game, both teams coming in with a 16-4 record and the Big 12/SEC showdown taking place today. Kansas' win pushed the Big 12 to a 6-3 advantage over the SEC this evening.
On a night where Jayhawks stud Perry Ellis was plagued with foul trouble and struggling to get going, Wayne Selden Jr. had a career night as his 33 points powered Kansas past Kentucky. It was a great battle as the first half saw 11 lead changes and seven ties between the two teams.
Kentucky raced to a 46-40 halftime advantage behind Tyler Ulis' 14 point, 5 assist, 3 steals effort. The Wildcats shot a superb 63 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range in the half. While doing that, they also managed to contain the Jayhawks by collecting six steals and holding them to 25 percent from beyond the arc. Selden's 13 point effort and Kansas' 15-2 bench points advantage helped them to stay close to the Wildcats as neither team led by more than six.
Kentucky led majority of the game but an Ellis free throw at the 4:40 mark of the second half gave Kansas their first lead since early in the first half. Foul trouble began to plague Kentucky's bigs in the second half. Kentucky gave up 41 free throws to the Jayhawks, but they were uable to take advantage due to their free throw woes. Kansas shot just 58 percent from the free throw line tonight, a team that normally shoots it somewhere around the 70 percent range.
With the game tied at 76 after a Jayhawk free throw, Kentucky got the ball back within the final seconds. A Ulis turnover with 2.2 seconds remaining gave Kansas the ball back. A Frank Mason heave just missed forcing the game to go to overtime.
It was all Kanasa in the overtime as they out scored Kentucky 14-8, with 5 of Kentucky's points coming after the game was already out of reach. Kansas enjoyed a 42-31 rebounding edge as well as 47-22 free throw advantage in route to the win.
Ulis led the Wildcats with 26 points, eight assist and 3 steals in the loss. Three other Wildcats reached double figures as Jamal Murray talled 15 points to go with six rebounds, Alex Poythress chipped in 13 points to go with eight rebounds and Isaiah Briscoe contributed 12 points and five assist.
The Jayhawks were lead by Selden's career high 33 points, Mason's 13 point, 8 rebound, 4 assist performance, Devonte' Graham also chipped in 11 while a struggling Ellis finished with 10 points on 1 of 4 shooting to go with nine rebounds.
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