Wayne Selden Jr.is averaging 15 points, Frank Mason III is averaging 13.8 points and 5.0 rebounds, and Brannen Greene is averaging 12 points.
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UNLV 72, No. 13 IN 69: The Runnin’ Rebels held off the Hoosiers IN Maui, winning the fifth place game at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational and going 2-1 IN the event.
That put the 19th-ranked Commodores in the championship game against No. 5 Kansas on Wednesday (9 p.m., ESPN). 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.
Selden’s 25 points tied a new career high as he shot 8-of-11 from the floor, including a 67 percent effort from three-point range. “Second half we were able to penetrate, get the ball moving and a lot of things opened up for us”. “We didn’t have a great sixth half, but other than that, we played five pretty good halves of basketball”. That was in contrast to the Jayhawk defense holding the VU shooters to 40 percent from the field in the second half, which included a 2-of-12 clip from three.
“I thought that we played a lot better in the first half than we did in the second”. They got the lead for the first time with 18:16 to play on a jumper by Frank Mason III, and Vanderbilt never was in front again. “But, you know, shots that we are pretty accustomed to making, we didn’t make today”.
Vanderbilt (5-1) drew within five points in the final minute after Selden missed four straight free throws with 27 seconds and 16 seconds left. Christian Jones (Arlington, Texas) finished with career-highs in both scoring (17) and rebounding (11) for his first double-double.
Selden dropped his best performance as a college player in the Championship game of the Maui Invitational, to help lead his team to the title. That didn’t change in the first half.Vanderbilt was getting things done through its duo of 7-footers Damian Jones and Luke Kornet.
The Commodores weren’t exactly tested in their two games, with a 37-point opening win and an 86-64 victory over Wake Forest in the semifinals.
The fastest KU coach to reach 300 wins at Kansas, Self’s milestone victory occurred during the 2013 NCAA Tournament against former KU coach Roy Williams’ 2013 North Carolina team.
“We were fortunate. I felt the first half like they got some good looks, but we were just bad, stagnant offensively”, Kansas coach Bill Self said. Caris LeVert led all scorers with 20 points, but his early foul trouble led to a major shift in momentum in the first half.
Lucas added 12 rebounds in the game, which (with his 13 points) gave him a double-double.
After the two squads combined for just two field goals over the next five minutes, sophomore Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk evened the Jayhawks and Commodores at 22-22 at the 4:03 mark with his ninth three of the tournament and only trey of the day. The Red Storm made 10-of-19 3-pointers (52.6 percent) in the contest and dished out 21 assists.
The Commodores have a week to recover and will have the Detroit Titans waiting for them.
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Kansas got a boost before Wednesday’s final when the NCAA announced touted Jayhawks recruit Cheick Diallo will be eligible on December 1.
