Ridley leads in rebounds with 10.0 while Taylor tops in assists with 5.0 per game.
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The Jayhawks (26-4, 14-3) made 11 three-pointers, led by 24 points by halftime and sent Texas’ sellout home crowd headed to the exits early.
There have been some unbelievable dunks this season, including Texas Longhorn Kerwin Roach’s poster jam against UT-Arlington.
“He was in a lot of pain”, Smart said. “They were poised, prepared, played with great freedom, shared it – made some sloppy plays but shot the heck out of it and made the extra pass. We shot the 3-ball good, everybody did”.
Frank Mason III added 14 points for the Jayhawks.
Kansas had already earned at least a share of a 12th straight crown and settled the question of whether they would get to claim it as their own in the opening minutes with a barrage of 3-pointers, a steady diet of points from Ellis and defense that gave Texas nothing easy.
Ellis was almost flawless in the first half, going 7 of 8 from the floor, as the Jayhawks outshot Texas 63 percent to 27 percent and kept on the accelerator.
“Where do we go from here?” “The thing that is so impressive is the continuity once players move on… that mindset is pervasive in the program and that is what we are all trying to get to”.
The Jayhawks opened a 47-23 halftime advantage, and the first-half stat sheet reflected the domination. “We didn’t defend well. We were aggressive tonight on offense but we didn’t make our shots”.
Kansas: The Jayhawks rank fourth nationally in 3-point percentage and have made 10 or more 3-pointers 11 times this season.
In the end, Texas fans left with little to celebrate other than this fact: It also was a Senior Night of sorts for Ellis, who would never be able to torment the Longhorns in the building again.
“It’s an wonderful accomplishment – the continuous success”, senior forward Perry Ellis said.
Kansas has won nine of its past 10 against Texas, but came into this one expecting a much tougher fight than the Longhorns put up. “We addressed that – I was concerned about the human nature element of that win – but I didn’t do a good job of getting the guys back to where we need to be”.
– Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self conveyed a simple message to his veteran players on the bus ride from the team hotel to Texas’ Frank Erwin Centeron Monday night. Taylor the Longhorns’ leading scorer for the year with a 15.5 points-per-game average, tallied only five points on 1 of 10 shooting.
Credit Kansas for playing with the swagger befitting a team that wants to stay No. 1.
Texas, 19-11 overall and 10-7 in the Big 12, fell to 3-1 at home against AP top 10 opponents this season.
Kansas is back on top of the men’s college basketball poll by The Associated Press.
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And that fear is so symbolic of both the game (in which Kansas demolished Texas, 86-56, in Austin) and of the Jayhawks’ incredible run of 12 consecutive Big 12 titles. His 3-pointer put the Jayhawks up by 21 points with 4 minutes left.
