No. 7/7 Kansas to Host Chattanooga in Edward Jones CBE Hall of Fame Classic Thursday in Men's Hoops

Nov. 14, 2012

Kansas notes for Chattanooga

EDWARD JONES CBE HALL OF FAME CLASSIC CONTINUES

Kansas continues the Edward Jones CBE Hall of Fame Classic by hosting the second round against Chattanooga. Kansas is currently 1-1 on the season after losing to No. 21/22 Michigan State 67-64 Tuesday at the State Farms Champions Classic in Atlanta. Chattanooga (1-0) opened the 2012-13 season with an 88-53 win against Tennessee Temple on Nov. 12.

ABOUT KANSAS

No. 7/7 Kansas is 1-1 on the season with a 74-55 win against Southeast Missouri State in the opening round of the Edward Jones CBE Hall of Fame Classic at Allen Fieldhouse on Nov. 9 and a 67-64 loss to No. 21/22 Michigan State Nov. 13 in Atlanta. The Jayhawks average 69 points per game and are giving up 61 for a plus-8 scoring margin. KU is outrebounding foes 37 to 34 and averages eight steals and 8.5 blocked shots per game.

Senior center Jeff Withey is Kansas’ leading scorer at 12.5 points per game. Included was his seventh career double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds against Southeast Missouri State. Withey also leads KU with 9.5 rebounds per contest and has a team-high seven blocked shots through two games. Redshirt freshman Ben McLemore is next in scoring at 11.5 points per game after his 14 points against Michigan State. Against Southeast Missouri State, McLemore just missed a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds. McLemore leads KU with a 53.3 field goal percentage and he is averaging 7.5 rebounds per game. Senior guard Elijah Johnson led KU against Michigan State with 16 points. He is averaging 10.0 ppg and 3.5 rpg. Freshman forward Perry (9.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and senior guard Travis Releford (8.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg) round out the KU starters. Releford leads KU with five steals in two games and is 7-for-7 from the free throw line, while Ellis is 5-for-6 from the line. Other regulars include redshirt freshman forward Jamari Traylor (5.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, four blocked shots) and sophomore guard Naadir Tharpe (7.5 ppg). Tharpe and Johnson are tied for the team lead with two three pointers made in two games.

Kansas returns four seniors – Johnson, Releford, Withey and Kevin Young – from a team that advanced to the 2012 NCAA championship game, won the school’s eighth-straight Big 12 regular-season title with a 16-2 record and finished 32-7 overall. KU welcomes nine freshmen, once again making the Jayhawks one of the youngest teams in the nation for head coach Bill Self–who is in his 10th season at KU with a 270-54 record for an 83.3 winning percentage.

ABOUT CHATTANOOGA

Located in Chattanooga, Tenn., with an enrollment of 11,600, Chattanooga (1-0) started the season with an 88-53 win against Tennessee Temple on Monday, Nov. 12. UTC is coached by John Shulman who is in his ninth season as a head coach, all at Chattanooga, with a 133-127 record. The Mocs return one starter and eight letterwinners from last season’s 11-16 team which finished sixth in the Southern Conference with a 5-13 league record. In the season opener junior forward Z. Mason led the Mocs with 16 points. Mason averaged 5.6 points and 5.6 rebounds last season. Senior forward Drazen Zlovaric is UTC’s lone returning starter who averaged 10.2 points and 6.4 rebounds last season and had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds against Tennessee Temple. Sophomores Ronrico White (5.0 ppg in 2011-12) and Lance Stokes (2.2 ppg last season) each had nine points in the season opener, while sophomore Jared Bryant (3.2 ppg, 2.7 ppg in 2011-12) and freshman Farad Cobb each scored eight points. Mason, Zlovaric, White and freshmen Gee McGhee (six points, two steals) and Casey Jones (four points) were the Mocs’ starters against Tennessee Temple.

THE SERIES

Kansas leads the series with Chattanooga 2-0 with the last meeting resulting in a 90-76 KU win on Nov. 21, 2003, in Allen Fieldhouse. The game opened the 2003-04 season which made it the first for current head coach Bill Self at Kansas. The Jayhawks won the first contest with the Mocs 102-73 in the 1994 NCAA Tournament Southeast sub-regional in Lexington, Ky. Kansas is 10-1 against current membership of the Southern Conference: 3-0 vs. Western Carolina, 2-0 vs. Chattanooga, 1-1 vs. Davidson and 1-0 vs. Appalachian State, UNCG, The Citadel and Furman.

In the Polls

Kansas is ranked No. 7 in both the Associated Press and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ polls released Nov. 12. Dating back to last season, this marks the 12th straight poll and 91st time that Kansas has been ranked in the AP Top 10 in the Bill Self era. Like the AP poll, this is the 12th consecutive time the Jayhawks have been ranked in the coaches’ poll’s Top 10. It’s the 115th time in the Bill Self era KU has been ranked in the top 10 in the coaches’ poll.

Clyde Lovellette to be Inducted into National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

Kansas basketball legend Clyde Lovellette will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Nov. 18 at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City. Lovellette, who played for the Jayhawks from 1950-52, was a three-time All-American for KU and was a key piece in Kansas’ march to its first NCAA title in 1952.

Playing for Hall of Fame coach Dr. Forrest C. “Phog” Allen at Kansas, Lovellette was the first player to win championships in the NCAA, AAU, NBA and Olympic Games. The 6-9 center was a three-time All-America selection for the Jayhawks and led the Big Seven Conference in scoring in each of his three seasons. He was the nation’s top scorer in 1952 with 28.6 points per game and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 1952 NCAA Tournament.

Lovellette is joined in the induction class of 2012 by Georgetown’s dominating center Patrick Ewing, North Carolina’s star guard Phil Ford, coaches Joe B. Hall and Dave Robbins, players Kenny Sailors, Earl Monroe and Willis Reed and contributors Jim Host and Joe Dean.

Noting Kansas Basketball

–Kansas has gone 245 games without consecutive losses, which is the longest active streak in NCAA Division I. KU’s last two straight losses were Jan. 14 vs. Kansas State (59-57 in Allen Fieldhouse) and Jan. 16 at Missouri (89-86 overtime in Mizzou Arena), during the 2005-06 season.

–Kansas has 2,071 all-time victories, second most in NCAA Division I.

–Kansas won its 1,000th all-time conference game with the 83-50 win against Texas Tech on Feb. 18, 2012.

–Kansas has held 179 of its last 186 opponents to under 50 percent shooting.

–KU has held opponents to fewer than 100 points in 375 consecutive games. The last team to score 100 on Kansas was Texas on Feb. 11, 2002, a KU 110-103 overtime victory.

–Kansas has sold out its last 181 games in Allen Fieldhouse, dating back to the second game of the 2001-02 season.

–Over the last six seasons, from 2007 through 2012, Kansas has averaged 32.8 victories per year with five 30-win seasons. The 197 wins are the most ever in a six-year span in NCAA Division I history.

–Each KU senior class since 1986-87 has won at least 100 games, including the 2012-13 class which entered the season 100-13.

–Every four-year player under Bill Self at KU has been part of at least one Final Four team. Former Jayhawk Conner Teahan–a senior on the 2011-12 Final Four team–was a part of two as he was also on the 2008 NCAA National Championship team.

–Kansas has won 12 of the 16 Big 12 regular-season titles (includes ties), including the last eight. Kansas’ 55 conference titles are the most in NCAA Division I. Kansas’ eight-straight league titles is a school record, surpassing the six straight set from 1922-27.

–Kansas has won 23 or more games in each of the last 23 seasons dating back to 1988-89 and has 22 victories 27 times in the last 28 years starting in 1984-85.

–Bill Self has won 23 or more games each of his last 14 seasons as a head coach.

–Kansas is the only team in the Big 12 to have a winning series record against every conference foe.

–KU has led its league in home attendance each of the last 26 seasons dating back to 1986-87 and 31 times in the last 35 years.

–Kansas’ 2002 team is the only squad in Big 12 history to go undefeated in conference play at 16-0.

–Kansas is first in the conference in wins with a 217-41 record in Big 12 regular-season games. Texas is next at 176-82. Including the league postseason championship, Kansas is tops at 248-49, while Texas is second at 197-98.

–Kansas is the only Big 12 school to have won a regular-season championship with two different coaches (Roy Williams and Bill Self).

–Under Bill Self, Kansas is 69-4 (94.5 percent) in Big 12 home games: 8-0 in 2004, 7-1 in 2005, 7-1 in 2006, 7-1 in 2007, 8-0 in 2008, 8-0 in 2009, 8-0 in 2010, 7-1 in 2011 and 9-0 in 2012.

–Kansas has won 10 or more league games for the last 18 seasons and 50 times overall, including 2011-12.

–In December 2010, KU alum David Booth bought the original rules of basketball by the inventor of the game and KU’s first coach James Naismith. Booth plans to bring the rules to Lawrence and Allen Fieldhouse.

–Kansas’ school-record 69-game home court winning streak, from 2007-11, led the nation for more than two seasons and ranks 11th all-time in the NCAA records book.

Up Next

Kansas will play Washington State on Monday, Nov. 19, at 9 p.m. (Central) in the championship semifinal of the Edward Jones CBE Hall of Fame Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. The KU-WSU game will be televised on ESPN2. The Jayhawks will face either Texas A&M or St. Louis on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. or 8:30 p.m., concluding the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. The Jayhawks will then take a break for Thanksgiving before returning home to face San Jose State on Monday, Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. on ESPNU. The San Jose State game begins a five-game homestand for KU.