Kansas stands tall during second-half surge, beats UC Irvine 78-53

Kansas coach Bill Self likes to say that the nonconference season is for testing, for teaching, for experimenting and for learning.

If there was something to be learned on Tuesday night, as No. 2 Kansas iced UC Irvine with a relentless second-half run, it was this: It takes a leather hide and a steel chin to play basketball for Self, and his latest Kansas team is learning how to take a punch.

The Jayhawks did just that in their final tuneup before Big 12 play, hopping off the mat after a sloppy first half, and delivering a flurry of body blows in a decisive second for a 78-53 win.

Take your pick of power shots: There was senior forward Perry Ellis, dusting himself off after a quiet first half and scoring 13 of his 14 points after intermission. There was junior guard Frank Mason, his usual pitbull self, filling up the box score with 13 points, six assists and three steals. And there was senior Hunter Mickelson, finishing in transition and transforming Allen Fieldhouse from mildly concerned to momentarily delirious.

The moment, perhaps the first knockdown, had come in the opening minutes of the second half, as the Jayhawks took control. A long defensive rebound bounced out to the top of the key. Junior guard Wayne Selden flipped a touch pass to a streaking Devonte’ Graham, who dropped off a craft assist to the charging Mickelson, who completed an acrobatic finish at the basket.

Mickelson, a 6-foot-10 forward, is not known for his touch around the basket. But as the Kansas run stretched to 16-2, Mickelson and the Jayhawks appeared in complete control. The lead ballooned to 44-28, and Graham turned to the crowd and flexed his biceps.

Kansas (11-1) was on its way to its 10th straight victory and 30th straight win inside Allen Fieldhouse. Four days before the start of Big 12 play, the Jayhawks put a punctuation mark on a successful nonconference season. Well, save for one more battle to come.

In 31 days, Kansas will complete its nonconference schedule with a much-anticipated showdown against Kentucky in the SEC-Big 12 challenge. The date with another national power looms large, but for the moment, as the calendar turns to 2016, the Jayhawks can close a chapter of their season and prep for a Big 12 title race.

One day earlier, on Monday afternoon, Self had stood inside Allen Fieldhouse and sorted through his team’s nonconference slate. It was not as demanding or grueling as the previous two seasons, and part of that was by design. The Jayhawks had averaged three uncharacteristic nonconference losses in the last two seasons, and Self and his staff set out to pave a smoother ride in November and December.

“I think it did what it needed to do,” Self said. “You go back and look at it, we’ve played a couple teams that haven’t had as good a years as they’ve projected to have.”

The first test came in Chicago at the Champions Classic. The Jayhawks led Michigan State, now ranked No. 1, for close to 30 minutes. Kansas unraveled down the stretch, falling 79-73, but the players would turn the disappointment into fuel. Eight days later, they would hoist a trophy at the Maui Invitational, notching victories over UCLA and Indiana in the process.

The run continued with five straight victories at home — including the annual Sprint Center game — and a 70-57 decision at San Diego State in the days before Christmas.

“There’s not a lot of teams that have played a better schedule,” Self said. “But it probably hasn’t been as demanding as what it has been in years past. And maybe that will end up being good for us. Maybe it didn’t wear us out as much. I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

For 20 minutes on Tuesday, of course, Self was not thinking about his team’s nonconference schedule. He was focused on how Kansas could adjust to the UC Irvine zone and overcome a mistake-laden first half.

Kansas led just 28-26 at halftime, and to secure that advantage, they needed a 6-2 surge in the final minutes of the first half. With the Anteaters’ frontline walling off the rim, the Jayhawks shot just 38.5 percent in the opening 20 minutes, hitting seven of 16 inside the three-point line.

In time, the offensive issues were smoothed out, Ellis came alive, and the Jayhawks found the right energy on the defensive end.

Now the Jayhawks can look ahead. On Saturday, the Jayhawks will face Baylor here at Allen FIeldhouse, and the race for a 12th straight title will begin. In some ways, the real test will begin.

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Kansas stands tall during second-half surge, beats UC Irvine 78-53."