Before his team played Kentucky on Saturday night, Kansas coach Bill Self attributed Oscar Tshiebwe’s almost surreal productive play this season to having room to operate around the basket.
“At West Virginia, they played with two ‘bigs,’ so you had another big man always around him when he was posting or whatever,” Self said.
At Kentucky, the other front line player is usually either Keion Brooks or Jacob Toppin. Both can play away from the basket, thus opening up space for Tshiebwe, Self said.
Those roles reversed in Kentucky’s surprisingly convincing 80-62 victory at Kansas.
Brooks scored a career-high 27 points as Tshiebwe presumably preoccupied the Kansas defense.
Not that Tshiebwe failed to make his presence felt. He scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.
Kentucky’s defense did its part. Kansas came into the game ranked 12th in scoring among Division I teams (81.5 points per game) and 10th in shooting (49.27%).
No. 12 Kentucky improved to 17-4 overall and 2-3 against ranked teams. UK also snapped a four-game losing streak at Kansas.
Kentucky had lost four straight to teams ranked in the top 10 by The Associated Press. It was a streak that dated back to a victory over No. 3 Louisville on Dec. 28, 2019.
No. 5 Kansas lost for the first time in 11 home games and fell to 17-3. Self’s record in home games in 19 seasons slipped to 285-16.
Kentucky’s performance overshadowed freshman TyTy Washington returning to action after having missed the last game because of a sprained ankle.
Before the game, ESPN analyst LaPhonso Ellis voiced confidence that Washington could handle the expected charged atmosphere in Allen Fieldhouse.
“He has a maturity about him and a poise about him that’s beyond his years,” Ellis said on Friday. “It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts to it.”
Washington made only one of nine shots and scored two points.
As a 51-31 halftime lead suggested, Kentucky displayed complete dominance in the opening 20 minutes. It was the first time Kansas had given up 50 or more points in a first half at home since 2007.
Kentucky took the lead for good with 17:56 remaining. The margin steadily increased: to double digits for the first time with 11:13 left, to 15 points at the 7:12 mark and to 20 points with 2:31 left.
Kansas tried to slow the Kentucky avalanche by calling three timeouts. None made a difference.
Many numbers reflected Kentucky’s superiority. UK outrebounded Kansas 23-12.
Tshiebwe won the battle of the “bigs” decisively. He had one point and five rebounds in the first half. Kansas center David McCormack had one basket and one rebound.
Shooting guard was supposed to be another intriguing area of competition. It too was all Kentucky.
Grady made 3 of 4 3-point shots in the first half. Agbaji, who was coming off career highs of 37 points and seven 3-pointers on Monday, made 1 of 6 shots.
Wheeler continued his good shooting of late. After having made 25 of 40 shots (4 of 7 from 3-point range) in the last four games, he made 3 of 6 shots in the first half. He also had six assists and no turnovers.
Nothing changed in the first few minutes of the second half as the Kentucky lead grew to 60-38 at the first television timeout.
Two free throws by Brooks set that lead and was part of a personal streak that saw him score nine straight points for Kentucky.
The seemingly inevitable Kansas counter came shortly thereafter.
A 3-pointer by Agbaji began a 10-2 Kansas spurt that reduced Kentucky’s lead to 62-48. UK went from 17:22 to the 10:59 mark without a basket.
But getting to the foul line — a part of the game UK coach John Calipari had been saying his team needed to improve — helped slow the Jayhawks’ momentum. In that span, UK made seven of nine free throws to maintain a double-digit lead.
Brooks’ floater ended the dry spell with 10:59 left. It enabled him to equal his career high and gave Kentucky a 64-48 lead.
Barely a minute later, Brooks hit a mid-range jumper to surpass his previous career high.
