March 14, 2013

Hot-Shooting Kansas Cruises Past Texas Tech, 91-63

March 14, 2013

KANSAS CITY, Mo.– First Team All-Big 12 Conference selection Ben McLemore rose to the occasion, as No. 1-seeded and No. 7/6-ranked Kansas used a 15-2 run to open the game, in which McLemore contributed 12 points, and led start to finish in a 91-63 quarterfinal victory at the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at the Sprint Center Thursday afternoon.

With the victory, Kansas (27-5) advances to the semifinals of the 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship for the 15th time in the 17-year history of the event. The Jayhawks will take on Iowa State, a 73-66 winner over Oklahoma, at 6:30 p.m., Friday at the Sprint Center.

Kansas set the Big 12 Championship standard with a 66 percent shooting effort, which was the Jayhawks’ top-shooting effort on the season. The 28-point win marked the largest margin of victory by Kansas in the Big 12 Championship since routing Texas Tech 90-50 in the semifinals of the 2002 tournament.

After building the 15-2 opening lead, Texas Tech (11-20) responded with an 8-0 run, including five points from Dejan Kravic, to cut the KU lead, 15-10. Kansas pushed the lead to nearly double-digits again, 23-14, on a layup by Kevin Young at the 7:09 mark. The Red Raiders cut the lead to two points, 27-25, with 3:10 left in the half, but KU ended the frame the way it started and posted a 7-0 run, including five points from Jeff Withey, to build at 34-25 halftime lead.

Kansas took its largest lead to that point, 44-27, at the 16:59 mark thanks to a 10-0 run that included a pair of three-pointers by McLemore, who finished with a game-high 24 points. The Jayhawks pushed the lead to 21 points, 52-31, when Travis Releford was fouled on a made layup. The foul was tabbed as the flagrant variety and Releford sank two free throws for a four-point play. KU eventually led by as many as 35 points, 89-54, before claiming the 28-point victory.

Rio Adams joined McLemore as the only Jayhawks in double-figures with a career-high 11 points, while Jamari Traylor posted a new career-high with seven points.

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