University of Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Senior Perry Ellis led the charge with 14 points, 13 in the second half, as the frontcourt players of No. 2 Kansas accounted for 30 of the team’s 50 points over the final 20 minutes to claim a 78-53 win over UC Irvine Tuesday night inside Allen Fieldhouse. The victory marked the 10th-straight by the Jayhawks (11-1).
The stature of UC Irvine (10-5), with three players measuring in at 6-foot-10 or more, appeared to cause issues for the KU offense early on as the Jayhawk post players combined to score five points on 2-for-8 shooting in the first half. That issue was quickly erased in the second half, as the Jayhawks opened with a 9-0 run, including six points by Ellis and two more from senior forward Hunter Mickelson.
The Kansas run grew into a 16-2 edge and put the Jayhawks in control with a 44-28 lead with 15:54 left in the game. KU pushed the lead to 20 points after a pair of Landen Lucas dunks, 58-38, with 10:01 remaining. Lucas finished with eight points on 4-for-6 shooting and four rebounds.
The Anteaters cut the lead to 14 points twice, but a Mickelson jumper just inside the foul line lifted the KU advantage to 69-48 with 3:18 left. Mickelson scored six points on the night. The second-half attack by KU spread to the backcourt too, as the Jayhawks shot 14-for-25 in the final frame (56 percent) and forced 25 free throw attempts as opposed to just eight in the first half.
Along with his game-high 14 points, Ellis finished with nine boards, while Frank Mason III chipped in 13 points and added six assists. Brannen Greene scored 10 points, thanks to an 8-for-11 effort from the free throw line, and Wayne Selden Jr., posted eight points, seven rebounds and five assists.
In the first half, Kansas and UC Irvine traded runs throughout the period and both endured scoreless droughts of over four minutes. The Jayhawks stormed out to a 7-0 run with two-point baskets from Mason and Selden and a trey from Devonte’ Graham.
The KU lead was short-lived as the Anteaters countered with a 13-2 run to take a 13-9 advantage. The run included the first of two first-half three-pointers by UCI’s Ioannis Dimakopoulos, who entered the game shooting 1-for-8 from behind the arc for the season. Dimakopoulus finished the first half with a team-best 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting, including a perfect 2-for-2 on threes. He was held scoreless in the second half. Seven-foot-6 Mamadou Ndiaye was the high scorer for UCI with 12 points.
The Jayhawks responded with a 6-0 run highlighted by an alley-oop dunk from Mason to Lucas at the 10:19 mark. Not only did Lucas’ slam give KU the lead, 14-13, but it marked the first made basket by a Kansas post player.
UC Irvine matched its largest lead in the game, 26-22, after a 13-7 run with five points by Dimakopoulos. Graham sank his third three-point shot of the first half to start a 6-0 Jayhawk run to end the period and claim a 28-26 lead at the break. Graham finished with nine points.