Game Notes: No. 2 Kansas 64, No. 7 Nebraska 54

 

KANSAS
The 22 first-half points equaled a season low for the Jayhawks. They scored 22 points in the second half against the Arizona Wildcats on 11/25/07 at home. The Jayhawks won the game 76-72 in overtime. Kansas scored its 22nd point of the second half with 9:59 remaining in the period.

 

The five-point halftime deficit represents the largest halftime deficit of the season for Kansas. The previous largest halftime deficit was four points (36-32) at Oklahoma State on 2/23/08. Oklahoma State won that game, 61-60. Tonight marked just the fourth time Kansas trailed at halftime. They improved to 2-2 when trailing after 20 minutes.

 

Kansas rallied from a nine-point deficit (27-18 with 1:21 left in the first half) to advance to the semifinals, one point off its largest deficit overcome in a win, an early 10-point hole to USC, 16-6 on 12/2/07

 

Kansas improved to 12-0 all-time in its first game of Big 12 Championship play (one win in the first round, 11 in the quarterfinals following a bye)

 

Russell Robinson recorded five assists and two steals. He moved into third place on the Big 12 career Championship record list for assists with 39, trailing only fellow Jayhawk Aaron Miles (60 assists from 2002-05) and Oklahoma State's Doug Gottlieb (56, 1998-2000). He has now collected 19 steals in Big 12 Championship play, tying him for second on the career Championship list with Kansas' Nick Bradford (1997-2001). He needs one to tie Hollis Price (2001-04) for the career record.

 

In the last six meetings with Nebraska prior to tonight, Kansas had won by an average margin of 29.4 points per game (82.1 points per game to 52.7).The closest game in that span was a 14-point game at the 2006 Big 12 Championship (3/11/06). In those six games Kansas shot 51.7 percent from the floor, 45.0 percent from the 3-point arc and dished out an average of 19.7 assists per game. Tonight Kansas shot 46.3 percent, 33.3 percent from 3 and recorded only 13 assists.

 

NEBRASKA
Ade Dagunduro tallied 13 points on five-of eight shooting. In his two previous games against the Jayhawks, he scored only a combined seven points on 2-of-13 shooting.

 

Maric finishes the Championship with 1,603 career points, sixth all-time and six shy of Jaron Boone for fifth on the Nebraska all-time scoring list. Should the Huskers advance to a postseason tournament, he will need five rebounds for 1,000 in his career to become the second in school history and fifth in Big 12 history to reach that milestone.

 

The Huskers grabbed only 12 defensive rebounds, one off the season low among Big 12 teams (Oklahoma totaled 11 at Colorado on 2/9/08). They pulled down 12 offensive rebounds, marking the first time in 215 games (2/25/01 vs Kansas) that the Huskers did not grab more defensive rebounds than offensive rebounds.

 

Big 12 Championship Notes...
Kansas' win improved the record of the No. 2 seed in the quarterfinals to 7-5. The No. 2 seed has advanced to the semifinals in four of the last five years.

 

Kansas advanced to the semifinal for the 11th time in 12 seasons joining Texas (ninth semifinal appearance) and Oklahoma (eighth appearance). These three schools account for 28 of the 48 all-time semifinal representatives in the Big 12 Championship. This year will be the fourth that all three are in the semifinals and the first since 2002 (also occurred in 1998 and 2001). In each of the three previous instances, two met in the finals.

 

With the 10-point margin, the first seven games of the 2008 Big 12 Championship have been decided by a total of 51 points. No Big 12 Championship has seen its first seven games decided by a closer total margin. The previous mark through six games was 66 points, set in 2005.