March 28, 2008

Kansas vs. Villanova Postgame Notes

March 28, 2008

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Kansas 72, Villanova 57

March 28, 2008 * Ford Field * Detroit, Mich.

Postgame Notes

Kansas’ Win Over Villanova…

… Improved Kansas to 34-3 on the season, and match the third-most wins in school history with the 1997 team which went 34-2

… Extended Kansas’ winning streak to 10 games, the second longest of the season (20-0 to open the year)

… Marked KU’s 20th win as a No. 1 seed, improving its mark to 20-7 in that spot

… Advanced Kansas to its 19th NCAA Tournament regional final, third under Bill Self

… Gave KU a 79-36 record all-time in the NCAA tourney

… Made Kansas 3-1 in NCAA Championship games played in the state of Michigan

… Made Kansas 3-1 against Villanova

… Made KU 6-0 in neutral site games this season and 14-3 away from Allen Fieldhouse in 2007-08 (8-3 away, 6-0 neutral)

… Made Bill Self 139-32 at Kansas, 316-137 all time and 19-9 in the NCAA Tournament (9-4 while at Kansas)

… Made Kansas 1,940-785 all time.

Notes

– Combined with Texas’ 82-62 win over Stanford, Kansas’ win over Villanova advanced two Big 12 Conference teams to the Elite Eight, making it the only conference to do so.

– Kansas’ starting guard trio of Russell Robinson, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush combined for 32 of the Jayhawks’ 41 first-half points. The trio made 12-of-20 shots from the field, including 7-of-12 from beyond the arc in the opening frame to provide the Jayhawks a 41-22 advantage at the break.

– Russell Robinson tied his career high with three-three point baskets, all coming in the first half. Robinson has now recorded three triples in a game on six occasions in his Kansas career.

– Robinson finished with 15 points, marking his 11th double-figure scoring game of the season and second-straight game with 10 or more points.

– Brandon Rush knocked down 2-of-6 shots from beyond the arc, on his way to 16 points. Rush has now made two or more triples in six-straight games.

– Rush’s 16 points, gave him 26 double-figure scoring games on the season and marked his seventh time to lead the Jayhawks in scoring.

– Mario Chalmers recorded 14 points in the win, moving him into 25th place on the Kansas all-time scoring chart. Chalmers now has 1,299 points. He passed Jo Jo White, who finished his KU career with 1,286 points.

– Jeremy Case played a career-best nine minutes in an NCAA Tournament game, finishing with three points.

– Kansas outscored Villanova 19-2 in fast break points.

– Kansas forwards Darrell Arthur and Sasha Kaun combined for 16 points, 10 of which came off of dunks.

– After allowing only 61 points in each of its two previous NCAA Tournament games this season, the Jayhawks gave up only 57 points to Villanova.

– An NCAA Preliminary Game Round record crowd of 57,026 watched Kansas defeat Villanova at Ford Field.