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Kansas Cruises Past Oklahoma State 76-62

After a slow start, the Kansas Jayhawks pulled away late in the first half and never looked back against the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
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Oklahoma State came into Lawrence on Big Monday after a dominating performance over West Virginia on the weekend.  Could they make it two in a row?  In short, no.

Kansas started off relatively slowly with a few turnovers, but an Ochai Agbaji dunk on a lob from Dajuan Harris got KU going. Kansas went on an offensive rebound fueled eight to nothing run and eventually got out to an early 10-4 lead. Heading into the under 12 timeout, KU had yet to make a jumper. All of their baskets came on layups or dunks. All those misses allowed Oklahoma State to stay in it.

But the Cowboys fared the same from a shooting perspective and the game stayed close early. After a series of turnovers, hilarious misses, and some OSU tips off their own misses, KU was down 11-10. Bill Self called a timeout.

Fans of “good play” and “basketball” probably didn’t enjoy those first 12 minutes or so.

With 6:55 to go, Harris canned a three. It was KU’s first made jump shot of the half. Joseph Yesufu and Agbaji then nailed threes right after that and the confidence was building. Late in the first half David McCormack scored eight straight points for Kansas, and KU took a ten point lead into the break, leading 38 to 28 at the intermission.

The Jayhawks started off the second half well, extending their lead to 14 before Oklahoma State’s Bryce Williams made the team’s first three point bucket. But KU came out of the first timeout of the half hot and Ochai smashed down a lob and quickly thereafter Christian Braun made a three that bounced off the rim several times. KU’s lead was sixteen.

With ten minutes left to go in the game, the Kansas lead had ballooned to 26 with a 20 to five run fueling the lead. Jalen Wilson was instrumental in that run, scoring seven straight for Kansas.

KU’s lead probably would’ve been extended even more if Jalen had made some of his bunnies, but at that point it was all academic.

KU’s bench emptied at the end which is always a good sign, but late game free throw shooting is still a little worrying as Kansas missed their last four in this one as well. Kansas won 76-62.

Bill Self improves to 38-0 all-time at home on ESPN’s Big Monday. That’s pretty good. We’ll have more analysis of this game through the week as well as lead up to KU’s Saturday game at West Virginia.

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