Self Made falls in opening round of The Basketball Tournament
WICHITA, Kan. – Self Made, a team comprised of KU men’s basketball alumni, fell in the first round of The Basketball Tournament (TBT) Thursday evening inside Koch Arena. Sideline Cancer topped the Jayhawk alumni, 87-63, with help from a 51 percent shooting clip from the field and 13 3-pointers. Mario Little led Self Made with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field.
The opening moments were less than ideal for Self Made, who saw starting forward Perry Ellis head to the locker room after an apparent knee injury less than a minute after tip-off. Sideline Cancer took advantage of Ellis’ absence and quickly jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter. However, a 9-0 Self Made run to close the opening quarter got the KU alumni to within a point, 16-15, midway through the first half.
But from there on out, Self Made struggled to stop the opposing shooters, who were once again able to build a double-digit lead in the second quarter and never turned back. Sideline Cancer took a 44-33 edge into the half before using a 16-5 run over the final four minutes of the third quarter to head into the final nine minutes with a 24-point advantage.
A fourth-quarter comeback wasn’t in the cards for Self Made as Sideline Cancer cruised to the 87-63 win and into the second round of the TBT.
After Little’s 21 points, Kevin Young was next on the score sheet with 14 points to go along with 4 rebounds. Tyshawn Taylor added 10 points and three assists while team general manager Elijah Johnson contributed eight points and five assists.
Now in its sixth season, the TBT is a 64-team, single-elimination tournament for $2 million. Applications are open to all. Games will take place in July and August and will air on ESPN. The bracket is broken into eight regional sites across the country, with the eight regional champions advancing on to Championship Weekend, to be held August 1-6 in Chicago. The $2 million Winner-Take-All Game is scheduled for August 6 at 9 p.m. (ET) (8 p.m. CT) on ESPN.
