🏀 GAME PREVIEW: vs. BYU
LAHAINA, Hawaii – No. 4/5 Kansas (4-1) will look to punch its ticket to the championship game of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational when the Jayhawks meet BYU in the semifinals on Tuesday, Nov. 26. The Jayhawks and Cougars are slated to tip-off inside the Lahaina Civic Center at 9:30 p.m. (CT) on ESPN. Dan Shulman (play-by-play) and Jay Bilas (analyst) will call the action.
GAME INFORMATION:
#4/5 Kansas vs. BYU
Date/Time: Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 9:30 p.m. (CT)
Where: Lahaina Civic Center (Maui, Lahaina, Hawai’i)
Listen: Jayhawk Radio Network
Watch: ESPN
- Dan Shulman (play-by-play)
- Jay Bilas (analyst)
TIP-OFF
- Kansas is participating in its seventh Maui Jim Maui Invitational and has a combined record of 16-6 in the event. The Jayhawks are 3-0 mark in campus round games and a 13-6 record in Maui.
- With its 93-63 win against Chaminade (11/25), Kansas has won its opening round game of the Maui Invitational in six of the seven Maui invites it has participated.
- Kansas has won two Maui Invitationals in 1996 and 2015, its last appearance in the event. Kansas has won four straight Maui Invitational games and six of its last seven games at Lahaina Civic Center.
- Kansas and BYU are meeting for the fifth time in men’s basketball and the first time since the 1993 NCAA Tournament, a KU 90-76 win in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Chicago. KU leads the series 3-1.
- Kansas has won its last five in-season tournaments with the 2015 Maui Invitational included in the run. The streak started with the 2014 Orlando Classic, then the 2015 Maui Invitational, the 2016 CBE Classic, the 2017 HoopHall Miami Invitational and the 2018 NIT Season Tip Off.
- Kansas is 3-0 in Allen Fieldhouse this season and has a 24-game home court winning streak, which is third longest nationally behind Tennessee (28) and Gonzaga (26).
- Kansas is ranked No. 4 in the Nov. 25 Associated Press national poll. KU has been ranked in the top-five 340 times overall and 134 times in the Bill Self era.
- KU has been ranked in each of the last 204 AP polls dating back to 2008-09. The 204-consecutive weeks in the polls is the longest active streak in the nation. KU holds the same streak in the coaches’ poll at 212.
- Kansas head coach Bill Self is 684-212 in his 27th season overall as a head coach. He is four games from being the 30th active coach in the NCAA to have coached in 900 games.
NOTES:
KANSAS IN THE MAUI INVITATIONAL
Kansas has a combined 16-6 record in this Maui Jim Maui Invitational (counting home games that are part of the tournament). KU is 13-6 in games played at the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, Hawaii.
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.
ABOUT BYU
Located in Provo, Utah, with an enrollment of 33,511, Brigham Young is 4-2 on the season after its 78-63 win against UCLA in the opening round of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational Nov. 25. The Cougars are coached by Mark Pope who is 4-2 in his first season at BYU and 81-58 in his fifth season overall.
BYU averages 72.2 points and has a plus-5.0 scoring margin. The Cougars make 8.3 3-point field goals per game and attempt 22.1 from beyond the arc. BYU also average s15.0 assists and 6.3 steals per contest.
BYU uses an eight-man rotation led by senior guard Jake Toolson who averages 16.7 points per game. Toolson has made a team-high 14 3-pointers and has 19 assists. Toolson also averages 4.2 rebounds per game. Senior guard T.J. Haws is next in scoring at 12.5 points per game and he leads the Cougars with 22 assists. Haws is second on the team with eight steals.
CHAMINADE LEFTOVERS
- Kansas improved to 4-1 or better for the eighth straight season, starting in 2012-13, and for the 15th time in the 17-year Bill Self era.
- Kansas has now won 12-straight in-season tournament victories.
- Kansas forced Chaminade into 27 turnovers, the most by a Jayhawk opponent since KU forced 30 Alcorn State turnovers on Dec. 2, 2009.
- Kansas shot 55 percent from the field, the third-straight game KU has shot 50 percent or better. KU is 3-0 in those contests with a 254-9 record in the Bill Self era.
- Senior Udoka Azubuike tallied 15 points, all of which came in the second half on a 7-for-8 shooting performance. Azubuike pulled down seven rebounds while adding a block and one steal.
- Junior guard Marcus Garrett led the Jayhawks with seven assists, no turnovers, and four steals. His seven dishes were a season high for a KU player this year and set his career high replacing his old mark of five which he set five times, the latest against North Carolina Greensboro on Nov. 8, 2019.
- Sophomore Devon Dotson led Kansas in scoring for the third time this season as the guard finished with 19 points on a 7-of-12 shooting performance. Dotson’s seven makes tied his career high, previously set three times, the latest against Iowa State on March 16, 2019.
THE KU-BYU SERIES
Kansas holds a 3-1 series advantage against BYU. The four-game series started in 1959 with KU defeating BYU, 96-64, on Dec. 19 in Manhattan, Kansas.
BYU won the following year, 80-70, in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 20, 1960. The Jayhawks won game three, 83-67, on Dec. 17, 1971, in Allen Fieldhouse and KU won the last meeting, 90-76, in the 1993 NCAA Midwest Regional in Chicago.
UP NEXT:
Kansas will play either Dayton or Virginia Tech in the championship or third-place game of the 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational.
The Jayhawks are 1-1 all-time against Dayton and have never met Virginia Tech on the basketball court.
The Jayhawks have a combined 16-6 record in the Maui Invitational, including 13-6 in games played in Maui. KU has won two of the titles in 1996 and 2015.
