Keion Brooks Jr. scored a career-high 27 points, and Oscar Tshiebwe added a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds Saturday as No. 12 Kentucky stomped No. 5 Kansas 80-62 at Lawrence, Kan.
The Wildcats (17-4) claimed their sixth victory in seven games while ending a five-game winning streak for the Jayhawks (17-3), who suffered their first home defeat in their past 18 games.
Kentucky took charge early, silencing the sellout crowd with hot shooting to gain a 20-point command at halftime. The Wildcats never really got pushed in the blueblood showdown of the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
Brooks went 9-for-16 from the field and made 9 of 10 free throws while adding eight rebounds as part of his team’s 41-29 advantage on the boards.
Kellan Grady added 12 points and Jacob Toppin 11 as Kentucky shot 50.8 percent from the field. Sahvir Wheeler distributed eight assists and TyTy Washington Jr., coming off an ankle injury, delivered five.
Facing a one-on-one opportunity to narrow the tight gap between college basketball’s two all-time winningest programs — 2,344 wins for Kentucky, 2,340 for Kansas — the Jayhawks could get only as close as 14 in the second half. They used both a 2-3 zone and triangle-and-two, but the Wildcats could not be slowed.
Ochai Agbaji scored 13 points for Kansas, though he went just 4-for-14 from the field. Christian Braun also scored 13 points. Jalen Wilson contributed eight points and eight rebounds. The home-court loss was just the 16th at Allen Fieldhouse for Bill Self, who is in his 19th season at Kansas.
Kentucky rolled to a 51-31 halftime bulge behind 12 points from Brooks and 11 from Tshiebwe. The Wildcats closed with an 8-2 run while holding the Jayhawks scoreless over the last two-plus minutes.
Two strings of eight unanswered points enabled Kentucky to build its margin to double digits, 25-13, with 10:27 left on a follow by Brooks. The Wildcats kept padding their lead. Wheeler had six first-half assists and Washington four.
Braun scored seven to lead Kansas, which could not get Agbaji on track coming off his career-high 37-point performance Monday against Texas Tech. Agbaji went just 1-for-6 from the field in the first half Saturday, making a trey at the 10:14 mark.
–Field Level Media
