Kansas rides hot start to win in CBE Classic semifinals

It took UAB’s basketball team a good, long while to score a single point against No. 5-ranked Kansas on Monday night in Sprint Center.

The Jayhawks, who in the words of coach Bill Self looked like a “tired team” in Friday’s 21-point home victory over Siena, three nights later appeared energized in racing to a 17-0 lead in the first six minutes. They upped the margin to 22 points (25-3) en route to an 83-63 victory over the Blazers in the semifinals of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.

The victory, which wasn’t quite as easy as the early blitz would indicate (UAB cut the deficit to five late in the first half), pushed the (3-1) Jayhawks into Tuesday’s final against (3-1) Georgia, an 81-73 winner over George Washington in Monday’s other semifinal. The final will start approximately 9 p.m., in Sprint Center.

Devonté Graham, had nine points, Frank Mason seven and Josh Jackson six in helping KU blaze to its early 25-3 lead. Jackson finished with 22 points, Mason scored 20 and Graham had 16. Svi Mykhailiuk (four threes) had 15 on a night KU hit 50.8 percent of its shots and 12 of 27 threes.

Jackson, whose 22-point total marked a career high, had perhaps the play of the game — a phenomenal one-handed dunk with 4:14 remaining. He also slammed for the first points of the game.

Graham scored 12 points the first half, Mason 10 and Jackson 11, yet the Jayhawks only held a 39-30 lead at the break. UAB closed the half on a 27-14 run.

UAB of Conference USA missed its first 12 shots, but did recover to slice the deficit to five at 33-28 with 1:35 left in the half.

KU started the second half Monday almost as torrid at the first, going on a 9-0 run to build an 18-point lead (48-30) at 15:58. Mason had four in that early surge. However, the Blazers, who missed their first four shots of the second half, were able to slice the deficit to 10 (48-38) at 12:40.

KU led by 17 (56-39) with 11:20 left, UAB again cutting the gap to a workable 10 (60-50) at 8:01.KU built it back to 73-54 at 4:20.

Jackson, who also had seven rebounds, earlier Monday was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week in a vote by a media panel which covers the league.

The Jayhawks are competing in their third CBE Hall of Fame Classic and first since winning the 2012 event. The Jayhawks lost to Syracuse 89-81 in overtime in the title game in 2008, also in Sprint Center.

The Jayhawks are slated to return to the CBE Hall of Fame Classic in 2020.

Wooten lists five schools – Kenny Wooten, a 6-8 senior forward from Trinity Christian High School in Las Vegas, on Monday announced a list of five: KU, Arizona, USC, Cal and Oregon. He is not ranked by Rivals.com or ESPN.com. Once committed to Nevada, he is originally from Manteca, Calif. He told Rivals.com he might enroll at a college for second-semester classes but not play in games until next season.

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Kansas rides hot start to win in CBE Classic semifinals."