Postgame Notes
April 2, 2012
Recap | Final Stats | Quotes |
Kentucky 67, Kansas 59
2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship
Mercedes-Benz Superdome – New Orleans
April 2, 2012
Postgame Notes
Kansas’ Loss …
— Ends Kansas’ season with a 32-7 record. Kansas remains the winningest NCAA Division I men’s basketball program over the past two-, three-, four-, five-, and six-year spans.
— Moves Kansas to 3-6 in NCAA title games.
— Makes the Jayhawks 16-7 in games played away from Allen Fieldhouse (8-2 in true road games and 8-5 on a neutral floor).
— Dropped KU to 8-8 against No. 1-seeded teams and makes the Jayhawks 18-5 as a No. 2 seed.
— Moves Kansas to 93-40 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, one of only five programs to reach the 90-win plateau in the “Big Dance.”
— Make the Kansas-Kentucky all-time series 21-6 in favor of the Wildcats.
— Gives Bill Self a 269-53 record while at Kansas and 476-158 mark overall. Self dropped to 3-4 in games against Kentucky.
— Makes the Jayhawks 2,070-806 all-time.
Kansas Starters (Career/Season): C Jeff Withey (40/39); F Thomas Robinson (42/39); G Tyshawn Taylor (127/38); G Elijah Johnson (46/38); G Travis Releford (42/38).
Team Notes
— For the fifth-consecutive game Kansas entered the break behind or even with its opponent as Kentucky jumped out to a 41-27 advantage. Kansas led at halftime during just one game in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, its opening win against Detroit. The Jayhawks had overcome deficits against Purdue (36-30), North Carolina State (33-32), Ohio State (34-25) and was even with North Carolina (47-47) after the first 20 minutes of each contest. Kansas dropped to 7-5 when trailing at intermission.
— Kansas trailed by as many as 18 in the first half but clawed to within five points with a little more than a minute and a half remaining.
— Monday’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship attendance was 70,914, making the two-day Final Four total 134,274 – the third-highest Final Four attendance.
–KU’s five starters combined for all 59 of the team’s points.
Individual Notes
— Junior forward Thomas Robinson and senior guard Tyshawn Taylor were named to the 2012 NCAA Men’s Final Four All-Tournament Team.
— Robinson became the 55th Jayhawk to tally 1,000 points for his career in leading the Jayhawks against Ohio State and added to his career total with 18 points Monday night. Robinson finished the season just outside the top 50 at No. 51, with 1,026 career points. Robinson pulled down 17 rebounds to extend his KU single season record for double-doubles to 27. He finished the year with the second-most rebounds in a single season by a Jayhawk with 463.
— Junior center Jeff Withey set an NCAA tournament record with 31 blocked shots in six games after swatting four shots Monday night. Florida’s Joakim Noah had the previous tournament high after blocking 29 in 2006 (six games), a mark Kentucky’s Anthony Davis matched with six blocks Monday. Withey finished the season with a KU and Big 12 Conference single-season record 140 blocks.
— Tyshawn Taylor snapped a streak of 23 consecutive three-point misses when he knocked down his first attempt of the game with 4:31 left in the game. The New Jersey native’s last made three was his first attempt of the second half against Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament (3/9). Taylor’s trey also snapped an 0-for-23 streak in NCAA Tournament play, his last make coming against Illinois (3/20/11).
— Taylor scored a team-best 19 points in Monday night’s loss, his fifth double-digit scoring effort in six NCAA Tournament games this year. Taylor closed his career with 1,580 points, 14th-most in KU history.
— Junior guard Elijah Johnson joined Robinson and Taylor in double figures with 13 points, marking his eighth consecutive game in double digits, including all six NCAA Tournament contests.
— Senior guard Conner Teahan played in his 100th game Monday night and closed his KU career with 294 points.
