Kansas trailed by 10 points midway through the first half and the Jayhawks were able to cut the lead to 30-26 at halftime. Kansas is going to need to take those if they can’t score inside and 3. he still attempted more 3s than 2s. “And I think we were taken back a little bit by their length and size”.
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The Jayhawks (4-1), making their sixth appearance in the tournament, claimed their first championship in the event since 1996. Entering their third game of the tournament the Jayhawks were averaging 107.5 points on 59.8 shooting from the field including 48.1 percent from 3-point range…. Once Kornet left the floor, Vanderbilt’s fortunes changed, as Sports & Entertainment Nashville’s Blake Lovell pointed out:Selden, who scored 11 of Kansas’ first 14 points to end its slow start, fueled the Jayhawks’ comeback, as the Kansas City Star’s Rustin Dodd watched:Forward Perry Ellis, Kansas’ top player and member of the Wooden Award watch list, struggled throughout, putting up five points on 1-of-8 shooting.
For Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings, the matchup against Kansas was the first in his 23-year career as a head coach, though he spent five seasons as an assistant for the Jayhawks under Roy Williams.
After watching three KU games in three days from the bench in Maui, Diallo showed his enthusiasm late in the win over Vanderbilt by running onto the floor and just out-of-bounds when a teammate scored, was fouled and knocked to the ground. Damian Jones had 17 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks for VU despite the loss.
Landen Lucas had a monster putback dunk and a very nice possession where he got a mismatch in the post, was patient until Vanderbilt’s Luke Kornet backed away from helping off his man, and then scored.
From the onset, Mussini played one of his best games so far this season, which is a lot to say given how Mussini has been this season.
The Jayhawks committed six turnovers in the first nine minutes, most of which were forced by the Commodores’ defense. Wade Baldwin IV leads the Commodores averaging 14 points per game. “We’re fortunate they missed some shots, but we also defended them very well”. “And, again, they’re fast and quick and shoot the ball awfully well”. It didn’t happen until the second half but when they got it they extended it to as many as 13 points.
As it had done all tournament though, the KU offense came alive and put together a furious flourish to get the Jayhawks back into the game quickly. In the final, neither team led by more than 12, and even those double-digit advantages didn’t last long.
“So that is a lot of threes”, Self said.
Selden and Mason were selected co-MVPs of the tournament. They never truly threatened in the final five minutes as KU cruised to their second-ever Maui Invitational Championship.
The Maui title is the second for Kansas, which won it in 1996 behind Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce. There are a bunch of guys on this team who love shooting the three, but few who have fallen in love with taking it. That was on full display during Wednesday’s title game.
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“They do a good job of dictating the pace”. Self was steaming mad that the NCAA Clearing House was dragging its feet and had yet to make an eligibility decision on freshman forward Cheick Diallo. He is eligible to play Tuesday.
