Playing against the No. 5 Houston Cougars will always be one of the game's toughest tests as long as potential Hall of Famer Kelvin Sampson is with the program. Sampson’s gritty defenses and ability to ground out games against some of the nation’s best offenses have allowed his sides to reach three Final Fours throughout his storied tenure with Houston, Oklahoma, and Washington State.
In the first half of Kansas’ 69-56 win over Houston on Monday, the game opened up with a nightmarish run as the Jayhawks managed a 1-11 mark from the field with five turnovers in the nine minutes of the half.
Fortunately, Kansas’ defense took a big step in the right direction and never let the Cougars grow beyond an eight-point lead, always staying one small run away from pulling the game back to even.
Thanks to an 11-0 run through the final 3:21, the Jayhawks were handed a narrow 31-27 lead heading into the break, after a half that fans of either side would be more than happy to forget.
Tale of two halves
While the first nine minutes of the first half see Kansas stutter, the same segment of the second half saw Kansas break the game wide open.
Through the first eight minutes of the second period, the Jayhawks notched six of their first eight shots from the field and only one turnover.
The reason for this turnaround? Kansas injected pace.
Melvin Council Jr. and Tre White are two of the nation’s most controlled guards when driving to the rim, and the Jayhawks found nine of their first 14 points on fast breaks, with each of those fastpace poinst coming from the pair.
“That's when we are best, [is] when we play fast and don't think about it, and play free,” quoted Council following the win.
Kansas’ 14-7 run to open up the second half carried enough charge to allow the Jayhawks to extend their lead all the way to 20 points in the second half, with the Cougars hitting just 30.3% from the field in return through the final 20 minutes.
Bill Self’s squad still ranks 134th in the nation with just 76.6 points per game. Yet, consistently throughout the season, Kansas has shown it can outpace anybody in transition; it is when the game slows up that its faults can be exposed.
There is little time for rest as the Jayhawks must take on the No. 2 Arizona Wildcats this Saturday away from home, with tipoff set for 3 p.m. CT and streaming available on ESPN.
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