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NEW YORK – After a two-week break, Kansas is probably in a position to return to its place as the first college basketball team.
The second ranked Jayhawks won 87-81 in overtime in a terrific NIP Season Tip-Off final against No. 5 Tennessee on Friday night at Barclays Center.
The KU-UT case was a rarity in college hoops. After third place, Gonzaga defeated Duke No.1 Wednesday at the title match in Maui, the Friday night battle of Brooklyn was the second game of the top five in three days. As for the game without conference at this stage of the calendar, it is something that we rarely see.
Both games were great. Kansas is now 5-0 with two wins against ranked teams: Michigan State and The Flights. Gonzaga has just played in the Maui championship with KU. The poll on first place polls will occupy a prominent place in the sport until the ranking of the AP is unveiled Monday afternoon.
But Friday night, we wondered why many people had expected Kansas to qualify for the Final Four. KU essentially won his victory when senior guard Lagerald Vick found Dedric Lawson in transition, the former Memphis great man sliding past the Tennessee unit as he walked into the paint and rushed for score the goal at 82-75 with 75 seconds remaining for OT.
Tennessee could not overcome that. The accumulation at that time, however, was a tremendous back-and-forth.
"You should not apologize for defeating a top-ranked team in the country, and I will not do it," said Kansas coach Bill Self. "It was a good victory."
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has described his team's calm in the areas of regulation and overtime as "emotional, nervous, nervous".
In fact, both teams were playing without great men critical in the bottom right. Kansas lost the center, Udoka Azubuike, while he still had 4:26 left to play after a lazy offensive rebound attempt against Grant Williams. The match was tied at 61 years old.
Williams himself scored his fifth foul with 1:24 to go.
"We may not be playing a better player than Grant Williams this year," said Self. "It's a burden.We were lucky that they missed a few 3 in the beginning, which, in my opinion, could easily have subsided."
Tennessee scored 27 points at 3 points, which Barnes said was embarrassing. UT, who was counting on the long shot, was not part of the team's game plan. The size of Kansas is very low – the Jayhawks are not big, but they have enough – pushed the Tennessee to the perimeter.
"They stay in their setting of what they're trying to do," Barnes said. "They have not done anything different because their teams are performing at a very high level … They know exactly what they are looking for and they are doing it, we have not done it yet and it is Is the next step we can take. "
Kansas has the deeper list, and this depth has prevailed after overtime. Charlie Moore and K.J. Lawson came from the bench to combine for 17 points; Dedric Lawson had 24 points, a top in the game, 13 rebounds and five assists. Kansas won with some muscle but also scrap metal. Self later stated that he had seen his teams win this type of match through their courage, luck and stamina many times over the years.
"It's good to win ugly," Self said. "Winning ugly is really pretty at the end of the day."
It was a block of Azubuike that led to a Vick 3-Pointers which earned him a lead of 59-56 with a gap of 6:40, which gave Kansas their first lead since 31-30 in the first period . Vick, who was not scheduled to return for his senior season, proved essential to bringing the KU to 5-0. Kansas made its debut as the # 5 team in offensive efficiency and # 4 in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. Self later told CBS Sports that these statistics were surprising, especially because no alpha has been established with this team.
"I do not really know what we still have because, if you've watched us play until now or have studied us, it's pretty much a different guy every night," Self said.
Nevertheless, the way Kansas held on for 45 minutes will surely appear on the tape. Tennessee could be the most physically impressive team against the KU throughout the season, and losing Azubuike in a 61-61 match after a foul was proof of his determination. The Jayhawks have passed this test.
Players will now rest for eight days before hosting Stanford on December 1st. The Jayhawks will probably be the No. 1 team in the country. Not bad for a group that is still coming together and still has not played the best way its best pro, Quentin Grimes.
At the same time, Tennessee will meet some major opponents in the coming weeks before having to face again what should be a ranked No. 2 team. Gonzaga is waiting on December 9 in a neutral court in Phoenix.
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