Kansas turns up heat in second half, beats Oklahoma 81-70

Kansas’ Bill Self reached yet another coaching milestone on Tuesday night, this one attained against his former arch-rival in his home state.

The 53-year-old Self — who claimed the 600th victory of a 24-year career on Dec. 6 against UMKC and led the Jayhawks to win No. 2,200 in program history on Saturday against Texas Tech — notched win No. 400 in his 14th season as KU coach Tuesday courtesy of a somewhat shaky 81-70 victory over Oklahoma at Lloyd Noble Center.

Self, a high school hero out of Edmond, Okla., who played his college ball at Oklahoma State, saw his No. 2-ranked Jayhawks improve to 15-1 (4-0 Big 12) on a night No. 1-ranked Baylor was throttled at West Virginia 89-68. That means KU could be No. 1 in the country next week if the Jayhawks beat Oklahoma State on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

The win against Oklahoma proved to be a victory Self may not soon forget, considering the Jayhawks trailed Oklahoma (6-9, 0-4) by nine points at halftime.

It was a stunning deficit, considering OU outscored KU 24-6 the last nine minutes of the half.

Frank Mason came to the rescue, scoring 19 of his game-high 28 points in a highly productive second half. Mason, who hit 11 of 19 shots on the night, scored 12 points in a 23-9 half-opening run to give KU a 50-45 lead at 13:49.

Mason had 15 points and Svi Mykhailiuk nine the first eight minutes of the second half as the run extended to 29-11 and KU led 56-47 at 12:11.

Also for KU, Josh Jackson finished with 16 points and Devonté Graham 13. Landen Lucas had 13 rebounds and 10 points.

Kansas used an early 12-4 run to extend a 9-8 lead to 21-12 at 9:19. Graham had five points and Lagerald Vick three in the surge, while Mason and Lucas had two points apiece

However, it was all OU from that point on in the initial half.

Kameron McGusty scored eight points, Rashard Odomes seven, Khadeem Lattin six, Dante Buford five and Jamuni McNease and Kristian Doolittle four the first 20 minutes. Jordan Woodard, who was ruled out of his fifth straight game by Lon Kruger on Monday, returned from his undisclosed injury, entered in the first half but didn’t score until the final 20 minutes. He finished with seven points.

At halftime, KU had hit just 34.4 percent of its shots including 3 of 11 threes. KU was 2 of 2 from the line the first half, while OU was 7 of 9 and hit 37.1 percent overall. OU hit 3 of 10 threes the first half.

KU’s anemic first half offensive attack was led by Mason who had nine points and Lucas six.

Self said on his pre-game radio show that he wasn’t counting out Woodard playing in the game, even though he’d missed four in a row with an undisclosed injury.

“We kind of prepared for both. He’s part of the scouting report but we won’t change whether he plays or doesn’t,” Self said.

KU will return home to face Oklahoma State in a 1 p.m., tip Saturday. Oklahoma will meet Texas Tech at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, in Norman.

This story was originally published January 10, 2017 at 10:15 PM with the headline "Kansas turns up heat in second half, beats Oklahoma 81-70."