Dominant No. 7 Jayhawks Crush TCU

In his pre-game radio interview, Bill Self recalled one of the worst days in his tenure as the head coach of Kansas. The date was February 6, 2013, three years ago to the day. The then-No. 5 Jayhawks, who hadn’t lost consecutive games in 264 straight contests, were held to 13 first-half points and shot 30% from the floor against TCU. When the final horn sounded, the Horned Frogs’ 62-55 victory was labeled one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history.

While only two players that played in that game are still with KU, the whole team was reminded about the upset enough. They weren’t going to let it happen again.

A balanced attack led No. 7 Kansas to a dominating win over TCU, 75-56, on Saturday afternoon. Perry Ellis led the Jayhawks with 23 points and 10 rebounds, good for his third double-double of the year.

The Horned Frogs, despite having lost the last four meetings with the Jayhawks, had been much more competitive in those contests, losing by a combined 24 points. On Saturday, the Jayhawks made sure that the game was never close.

This time, it was TCU who couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first half. Kansas’ stifling defense held the Horned Frogs to just six baskets in the first 20 minutes of the game. The Jayhawks opened the contest on a 7-0 run that saw TCU coach Trent Johnson call a timeout just 1:53 into the game. Later in the half, Kansas went on a 17-1 run that ruined any possibility of a 2013 reprise. At halftime, the Jayhawks led, 38-20.

The 20 first-half points by TCU are the fewest by a Kansas opponent since Texas scored 18 in the first half on February 22, 2014.

The intensity picked up for the Horned Frogs in the second half, but Kansas’ lead never got smaller than 15 points. The only real blemish from the Jayhawks’ dominant win was foul trouble. Jamari Traylor fouled out, while Landen Lucas and Wayne Selden both finished with four fouls. As a team, KU committed 25 fouls, as opposed to 18 for TCU.

Selden, who scored 33 points one week ago in Kansas’ overtime win over Kentucky, was held to just three points on one field goal on Saturday. He has just 10 points in his last two games.

As a team, the Jayhawks did whatever they wanted inside the arc, shooting 64% on two-point baskets. Kansas struggled with perimeter shooting, going just 6/22 from three-point range. Still, Self has to walk away from the game feeling confident about his offense’s ability to make close-range shots. The Jayhawks out-scored TCU 46-14 in the paint.

Entering Saturday, Kansas had lost three straight contests away from Allen Fieldhouse, each by double-digits. Despite being 12-0 at Allen Fieldhouse, the Jayhawks were just 2-3 in true road games this season before drubbing the Horned Frogs.

Later in the afternoon, the Jayhawks’ day got even better when Kansas State took down #1 Oklahoma. Should KU beat #14 West Virginia at home on Tuesday, the Jayhawks will move into a tie for first place in the Big 12, keeping the quest for a 12th straight conference title alive.

Kansas has won eight straight games against TCU since the infamous 2013 disaster. The Jayhawks are 19-4 on the year, which matches its best record through 23 games since the 2012-13 season.

Notes:

• The Jayhawks improved to 19-4 overall and 7-3 in Big 12 play.
• Perry Ellis: 23 points (11/14 FG) and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes. He was 11/11 in the paint. He dunked twice. He even smiled a few times. He is Kansas’ best player, and it’s not debatable.
• Devonte’ Graham: 15 points (6/10 FG). He played 27 minutes. Recently, he’s been the best point guard on the team, but he’s doing it with his shot rather than his passing recently.
• Frank Mason: 12 points (3/11 FG) and six assists in 39 minutes. It wasn’t a splendid shooting game, but he did his job as a facilitator.
• Jamari Traylor: six points and seven rebounds, despite fouling out in 15 minutes. It was arguably his best game of the season.
• Landen Lucas: eight points and three rebounds in 11 minutes.
• Wayne Selden: three points (1/5 FG, 0/4 from three). It is worth noting that he did have five assists. He played 22 minutes.
• Svi Mykhailiuk: three points on one basket.
• Brannen Greene: nothing on the stat sheet, but he did play after the incident from earlier in the week.
• Cheick Diallo: two points and five rebounds. He played 10 minutes.
• Carlton Bragg: five rebounds.
• Hunter Mickelson: played two minutes, his first action since January 19.
• It’s worth noting how impressive the Jayhawk fans showed in this contest. The arena was at least 40% KU fans, leading to one of the loudest “Rock Chalk” chants at the end of the game that I can remember hearing in a road contest.
• Up next: Tuesday night at home in a revenge game against #14 West Virginia.