Jayhawk report: Kansas 73, Connecticut 61

Saturday’s box score

Traylor goes swatting

Some of the loudest cheers were reserved for Jamari Traylor at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday.

Even the CBS announcing team, led by enthusiastic commentator Bill Raftery, got in on the action. He could hardly contain his excitement.

Traylor, a senior Kansas forward, had several jaw-dropping blocks, at one point sending the ball well off the court and into the KU band.

Moments later, he followed UConn guard Jalen Adams what appeared to be an easy layup by swooping in at the last moment to swat the attempt away.

Both plays occurred during a dominant stretch in the first half in which Kansas raced to a 40-16 lead. When Traylor exited the game, fans stood across the arena to applaud his effort.

“Their guy was trying to attack the basket, so I jumped up there and made a a play on the ball and got it on the first one,” Tryalor said. “The second one was in transition, and I was just hoping I didn’t foul him. I knew if we cut him off and he shot it that I was going to get it, and I did.”

Traylor earned style points by spiking the basketball on both blocks, finishing with three.

“I had so much energy built up inside of me,” Traylor said. “I had to let it fly.”

Landen Lucas also had three blocks to go with 12 points and six rebounds. The Jayhawks proved they have rim protectors.

“It looked like batting practice out there,” KU guard Wayne Selden said. “It’s great when you get it like that.”

Short bench

Kansas coach Bill Self tends to use his deep roster to the Jayhawks’ advantage by using reserves more than most coaches, but that wasn’t the case against UConn.

Every member of the starting lineup played at least 32 minutes. The only reserves to see action were Svi Mykhailiuk, Brannen Greene, Carlton Bragg and Traylor. They combined for 29 minutes, with Traylor leading the way with 10.

Divided arena

The fan split at Wells Fargo Arena for Saturday’s tradition-rich doubleheader was a tad surprising.

With Kansas, Kentucky and Indiana all playing at the same site, many wondered which fan base would bring the largest contingent of supporters. All three schools are within driving distance of Des Moines, and all three expected to make a March run.

Tickets were hard to come by, but Jayhawks fans seemed to get their hands on a small majority, followed by Indiana. There was a sharp dropoff to Kentucky, which usually fills arenas everywhere it goes. Some Kentucky media members remarked they had never seen a smaller gathering of Wildcats fans at the NCAA Tournament. Connecticut predictably had only a small pocket of fans.

The other side – Kevin Ollie lost his first NCAA Tournament game as Connecticut’s coach. He guided the Huskies to the national championship in 2014 before UConn missed the tournament last year and won this year’s first-round game against Colorado.

Ollie experience similar tournament vibes as UConn won the American Conference tournament, highlighted by a Jalen Adam’s 70-foot buzzer-beater that sent its semifinal game against Cincinnati to force quadruple overtime.

The streak stopped Saturday but Ollie seemed to maintain perspective.

“They battled and they were resilient and you know they just kept fighting and that’s the one thing I take from them.”

When asked to reflect on his one season at UConn, guard Sterling Gibbs broke down. Gibbs played one season at Texas, transferred to Seton Hall and joined the Huskies this season as a fifth-year graduate transfer.

“Man, I think…” was all Gibbs got out before the news-conference moderator moved to the next question.

Kellis Robinett, Jeffrey Lutz

This story was originally published March 19, 2016 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Jayhawk report: Kansas 73, Connecticut 61."