KU overcomes late Tennessee push to advance in Orlando

Kansas forward Perry Ellis, left, and Wayne Selden look to tie up Tennessee guard Detrick Mostella during the first half on Friday, Nov. 28, 2014 at the HP Field House in Kissimmee, Florida.

KANSAS 82, TENNESSEE 67

Box score

There was no Thanksgiving Day hangover in Orlando for the Kansas or Tennessee men’s basketball teams, which waged a heck of an entertaining battle in the semifinals of the Orlando Classic, won by KU, 82-67.

The Jayhawks (4-1) played from in front for most of the day, but no matter how large their lead was, you never got the sense that they were out of the woods given the way the Volunteers (2-2) just kept coming at them. Tennessee flashed great intensity and heart, inside and out, to keep trimming into KU’s lead, which sat at 40-33 at halftime and ballooned to 13 midway through the second half.

Kansas, which started the same lineup of Frank Mason III, Wayne Selden Jr., Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Perry Ellis and Landen Lucas, got great play from Mason, Ellis and reserve big man Cliff Alexander to hold off the upset bid by Tennessee.

Ellis led KU with a season-high 24 points and 13 rebounds and Mason was as tough as nails when it counted most. He finished with another solid all-around line, 11 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists.

Alexander, meanwhile chipped in a career-high 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting and the Jayhawks hit 8-of-19 three-point tries (42 percent), most of them coming at crucial times.

Here’s a quick look back at some of the action:

The game turned when: KU showed some toughness in responding to Tennessee tying the game at 62 with less than seven minutes to play. Mason and Selden hit free throws, Mason picked up a steal that led to a three-point play from Alexander in transition and Selden’s two free throws with 5:15 left helped push KU’s lead back up to seven points before the Vols even knew what hit them. Overall, KU answered Tennessee’s surge with a 12-2 run and took a 10-point lead into the game’s final three minutes.

Offensive highlight: It wasn’t one of those high-flying highlights that will show up on SportsCenter but it was still pretty nonetheless. Two minutes into the first half, Ellis caught the ball at the high post, immediately attacked the rim and then flipped a lob to Lucas as the defense collapsed on Ellis in the paint. Lucas, who has proven to be pretty solid early on for this KU team, elevated and finished it with a soft flush. So far this season the Jayhawks have not connected on the lob as often as they normally do. That clearly was an emphasis in this game, even if a few of the lob attempts were a little forced. A little later, Jamari Traylor got into the act by sucking the “D” to him in the paint and slipping an easy dime to Alexander for the monster dunk.

Defensive highlight: Four minutes into the second half, Alexander found himself in perfect position in transition defense and forcefully rejected an attempted layup by Tennessee’s Derek Reese. The block, which Alexander swatted off the glass into Ellis’ hands, led to a transition try by Selden, who was called for a charge after a hard take to the rim. Later, with KU leading by one with under 7 minutes to go, Alexander picked up another block — this one with his entire palm — when he stepped off of his man to help protect the drive and rejected a floater by Armani Moore out of bounds.

Key stat: The Jayhawks had nearly as many offensive rebounds (18) as the Volunteers had total rebounds and KU’s size and bulk on the boards helped the Jayhawks avoid the upset. Kansas out-rebounded Tennessee 44-22 in a game where just a few more possessions for Tennessee could have made things much more uncomfortable for the Jayhawks.

Up next: The Jayhawks will face the winner of tonight’s Marquette-Michigan State game (8 p.m., ESPN) in the Orlando Classic championship game at noon on Sunday.

— See what people were saying about today’s KU win at our game blog.


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