JAYHAWKS SOAR PAST COWBOYS
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Jeffrey Carroll started hot from the arc. Mitchell Solomon threw in a 3 and dunked, all in the first 3½ minutes.
Oklahoma State attacked and played with stunning confidence in The Phog. And Kansas coach Bill Self called for a timeout barely two minutes in, his team down eight out of the gate Monday night.
More OSU voodoo for KU? Not quite. Reality eventually set in, ultimately providing what most expected — No. 2 Jayhawks 94, Cowboys 67 — but it was more than interesting along the way, with OSU battling foul trouble, battling another injury to a point guard and battling the amplified atmosphere that is Allen Fieldhouse.
Battling the Jayhawks, too, until everything finally caught up to the Cowboys.
“We had some fight to us at times,” said OSU coach Travis Ford, “just not quite enough.”
Kansas, which moved into the nation’s No. 2 spot
earlier in the day, finally got around to outnumbering and overmatching OSU. The Jayhawks ran their winning streak to six games, remaining atop the Big 12 standings in their search of a 12th consecutive league title. They won for the 38th straight time at home.
For the Cowboys, there was fun while it lasted, some 30 minutes or so.
“Didn’t end the first half very well. Didn’t end the second half very well,” Ford said. “That does not spell success for any team that comes in here.”
OSU led 8-0 early, 23-14 under the 10-minute mark of the first half and 28-26 with 5:38 to play before intermission. The Jayhawks surged from there, using a 23-6 run to halftime to lead 47-34 and seem in control, especially with Cowboys point guard Tyree Griffin limping to the locker room with a bum ankle.
“We came out strong, trying to give them the first punch,” Griffin said. “We know at home they’re a very tough team. Going into the half, we didn’t finish strong enough, and they went on a run. We started playing catch-up from there.”
Still, OSU wasn’t finished. Not yet.
The Cowboys cut an 18-point lead to six, 62-56, with 11:13 to play, again making the crowd of 16,300 squirm a bit. Just not for long. Kansas used a 12-2 run to start its runaway to the finish, rolling to the end, getting 10 players in the scoring column, which was one fewer than the Cowboys played. Six Jayhawks scored in double figures, led by Wayne Selden Jr.’s 18.
This game went far differently than the first meeting in Stillwater, which the Cowboys won on Jan. 19. But for that one, they had point guard Jawun Evans, who scored 22 points and handed out eight assists. And they had sustained energy and defense.
“At home, I think we held them to a low amount of transition points,” said Cowboys guard Jeff Newberry, who led all scorers Monday night with 19 points. “Here, you get a basket and the crowd goes crazy. That’s what they did. They made plays down the stretch.
“You let a team like that get going in here and you see what happens.”
Griffin — who returned — finished with 12 assists, the most by a Cowboy since John Lucas had 13 against SMU in 2004.
KU improved to 22-4 overall and 10-3 in the conference, while OSU dropped to 12-14 and 3-10.
The Cowboys remained winless on the road in the Big 12 this season and dropped their 10th straight conference road game overall.