Jayhawks to Face Chaminade Monday in Maui

Maui Jim Maui Invitational
No. 4/5 Kansas (1-1) heads to Maui to face Chaminade (0-2) in the 2015 Maui Jim Maui Invitational, Nov. 23, at the Lahaina Civic Center. The game, the third of the day for the event, will begin at 8 p.m. (Central) on ESPNU. Kansas opened the Maui Invitational with a 109-72 win against Northern Colorado on Nov. 13 in Allen Fieldhouse. The contest was one of seven opening games for the event.
 
Kansas is 1-1 on the season with the victory against Northern Colorado and a 79-73 loss to No. 13/13 Michigan State at the State Farms Champions Classic on Nov. 17 at the United Center in Chicago. Chaminade is 0-2 on the season having lost to Alaska-Anchorage, 92-90, on Nov. 13 and at Alaska, 112-102, on Nov. 14 at the PacWest/GNAC Challenge in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Silverswords will have nine days off before playing KU.
 
Kansas is going for its second-straight, eight-team bracket tournament title. Last year the Jayhawks won the Orlando Classic at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando posting a 3-0 record over the Thanksgiving week.
 
About Kansas
Kansas looks to bounce back from a 79-73 loss to No. 13 Michigan State in Champions Classic on Nov. 17 in Chicago. The Jayhawks started the season with a 109-72 win against Northern Colorado on Nov. 13 in in Allen Fieldhouse in an opening game of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational. Kansas averages 91.0 points and 36.5 rebounds per game. The Jayhawks are making 9.0 3-pointers and 44.9 percent from beyond the arc. Kansas has averaged 25 free throws, 7.0 steals and 2.5 blocked shots per contest.
 
Senior G Perry Ellis leads Kansas in scoring at 18.5 points per game. The All-American candidate posted his 14th career 20-point game with 21 points against Michigan State (11/17). Ellis is tied for the team lead with eight free throws made along with senior F Jamari Traylor who is averaging 7.0 points per game. Traylor is tied with junior G Frank Mason III for the team lead with four steals through two contests. Mason is third on the team with a 12.5 scoring average and third in rebounds with a 4.5 rpg. He is tied for the team high with 12 assists, along with sophomore G Devonte’ Graham, who scores 8.0 points per contest. Junior G Wayne Selden Jr., is second on the team with a 13.5 scoring average and is tied for the team lead with five 3-pointers made. The aforementioned have been KU’s starters in the first two games of 2015-16.
 
Off the bench, freshman F Carlton Bragg Jr. is scoring 5.5 points per game, while junior F Landen Lucas (5.0 ppg) is second on the team with 5.0 rebounds per game. Sophomore G Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (4.5 ppg) and freshman G Lagerald Vick (3.0 ppg) provide depth on the perimeter. Vick missed the Michigan State game due to an eye injury but will be ready for Maui.
 
On Nov. 20, Kansas head coach Bill Self announced junior G Brannen Greene was suspended for six games and did not make the trip to Maui. Greene is tied with Selden with five threes made and fourth on the team with a 12.0 scoring average.
 
Kansas returns four starters and 11 letterwinners from last season’s 27-9 team that won KU’s 11th-straight, 15th Big 12 and NCAA-leading 58th overall conference regular-season title with a 13-5 league record. In 2014-15, the Jayhawks posted their 18th undefeated season inside historic Allen Fieldhouse by going 15-0 in the venue’s 60th year of existence.
 
About Chaminade
Located in Honolulu, Hawaii with an enrollment of 2,766, Chaminade is 0-2 on the season having lost both of its contests at the PacWest/GNAC Challenge, Nov. 13-14, in Fairbanks, Alaska. Chaminade fell to Alaska-Anchorage 92-90 on Nov. 13 and at Alaska, 112-102 the following day. Chaminade is coached by Eric Bovaird who is in his sixth season at Chaminade with a 59-52 record. Chaminade averages 96.0 points per game and makes 14.0 3-pointers per contest. The Silverswords attempt 32 threes per game and average 16.5 assists per outing.
 
Seven of Chaminade’s top eight scorers are either seniors or juniors. Senior G Oscar Pedroso is Chaminade’s leading scorer where he averages 20.0 points per game. He scored a career-high 23 points versus Alaska on Nov. 14. Pedroso has made a team-high nine 3-pointers. Junior G Kuany Kuany is Chaminade’s leading rebounder at 12.5 boards per game and he is the second-leading scorer with a 16.0 ppg average. He also has a team-best two blocked shots. Senior G James Harper scores 15.0 points per game, while senior G Kevin Hu (12.0 ppg) and junior G Kiran Shastri (10.5 ppg) also average in double figures. Junior G Sam Daly (9.5 ppg) leads Chaminade with 15 assists in two games, while senior G David Ware (5.0 ppg) has a team-high five steals.
 
The Series
Kansas is 2-0 versus Chaminade with both matchups at the Maui Invitational. In 1987, the Jayhawks defeated the Silverswords 89-62 in the opening round of the event. KU would finish the Maui invite in fourth place losing its next two contests to Iowa and Illinois. In 2005, Kansas defeated Chaminade 102-54 in the seventh-place game of the invitational. KU fell to Arizona in the 2005 opening-round game and Arkansas in the second round.
 
Maui Invitational History
Kansas is participating in its sixth Maui Jim Maui Invitational where the Jayhawks have won the event once, 1996, and have a combined 11-6 record, 9-6 in games played in Maui. In KU’s 1988 NCAA National Championship season, the Jayhawks placed fourth in the event going 1-2. Kansas won the 1996 Maui Invitational defeating LSU, California and Virginia. Raef LaFrentz was named the MVP. In 2001, KU finished third in the event with a 2-1 record. Drew Gooden was a member of the all-tournament team and was the first Jayhawk on the Maui Invitational all-tourney list which began in 2000. KU has appeared in the invitational two times under Bill Self. In 2005, the Jayhawks placed seventh losing to Arizona and Arkansas before defeating Chaminade. In 2011, KU finished runner-up defeating Georgetown and UCLA before falling to Duke in the title game. KU would later advance to the 2012 Final Four finishing runner-up. Jayhawk Thomas Robinson was named to the 2011 Maui all-tournament team.
 
Hawaii-wise, Kansas has also played in three Rainbow Classics as well in 1986-87, 1992-93 and 1997-98. Next season, Kansas will play Indiana in the 2016 Armed Forces Classic on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, at Pearl Harbor. The game will be part of a double-header with Arizona facing Michigan State.
 
National Accolades
Prior to the Michigan State contest, senior F Perry Ellis was named one of 50 to the Preseason Wooden Award List, released Nov. 17. Ellis was one of seven Big 12 reps on the list and was also on the top 50 last season.
 
Last month, Ellis was named to the Karl Malone Award Watch List by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Last year, Ellis was one of five finalists for the award. Also named by the Hall, junior G Frank Mason III is on the 2015-16 Bob Cousy Award Watch list, junior G Wayne Selden Jr. and sophomore G Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk on the Julius Erving Award Watch List and freshman F Cheick Diallo on the Kareem Abdul Jabbar Award Watch List.
 
In the Polls
Kansas is ranked No. 4 by the Associated Press and No. 5 in the USA Today Coaches’ polls released Nov. 16. KU has been ranked in each of the last 125 AP polls which is the second longest active streak in NCAA Division I behind Duke’s 157. The last time Kansas was not ranked by AP was during the 2008-09 season.
 
Under head coach Bill Self, Kansas has been ranked in the AP Top 25 for 211 weeks, which includes 149 weeks in the Top 10 and 82 times in the Top 5. In the coaches’ poll, under Self, Kansas has been ranked 224 times with 162 in the top 10 and 99 in the top five.
 
Kansas entered the 2015-16 season ranked No. 4 by AP and No. 5 in the coaches’ polls. This season’s AP poll is the highest ranking for the Jayhawks since 2009-10 when they entered the season No. 1 in the country. The preseason ranking is the 10th time in the Bill Self era that the Jayhawks enter the season slotted seventh or higher, including each of the last four seasons – No. 5 in 2015-16 and 2014-15, No. 6 in 2013-14, and No. 7 in 2012-13.
 
Last season, KU entered the year No. 5 nationally in the coaches’ poll and ended up No. 17. The Jayhawks were ranked in the top 10 in 12 times during the 2014-15 season.
 
Up Next
Kansas will face UCLA or UNLV on Nov. 24. If Kansas wins, it would play at 9 p.m. (Central) on ESPN. Should KU lose, it would play at 3:30 p.m. (Central) on ESPN2. KU will play either Indiana, St. John’s, Vanderbilt or Wake Forest on Nov. 25.
 
For the second game of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, Kansas will wear the adidas “Iced Out” uniforms. Eight college programs are debuting the new look this month: Kansas, Arizona State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Louisville, Miami, Nebraska and UCLA.

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