Kansas dispatches overmatched USC 63-47

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH

The Kansas City Star

Kansas – USC men’s basketball box

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LOS ANGELES | The Kansas Jayhawks won’t remember their 63-47 victory over Southern California at the Galen Center as the night they came together in their first road game of the season.

USC, which has done enough so far this season to take all of the glitz and glamour out of Tinseltown, didn’t provide enough of a challenge for No. 12 KU to make that claim.

But the Jayhawks, 8-3, have every right to consider Thursday the night they took advantage of the gifts given to them by a poor, probation-ridden Trojan team and returned home with a renewed sense of optimism after losing to Davidson on Monday night.

“We had to win tonight,” KU head coach Bill Self said. “There was no other choice. Davidson’s a good team, but to let that one get away was totally … I wouldn’t say unforgiveable … but it was up there close. That was very disappointing in how that went down in Kansas City.”

Still, to see this win as anything other than the result that should have occurred for KU — given the talent levels of these two teams — would be a sign that one has already had too much eggnog. Road wins are always rewarding, but the Trojans simply made this too easy for the Jayhawks, who could have used more of a tune-up for places like Manhattan, Kan., Columbia, Mo., and Stillwater, Okla. USC, now 5-8, had as many turnovers — 13 — as points in the first half. The 22 times the Trojans miraculously got off a shot, they only made five for a mark of 23 percent.

Self was willing to give the Jayhawks most of the credit, though.

“Mr. Iba would have been proud of the first half,” Self said, referring to his mentor at Oklahoma State, the legendary Henry Iba. “We guarded them great the first half. We needed that.”

The Galen Center began the night about three-fourths full, and nearly half of those people were wearing crimson and blue.

USC never came close to enlivening its fans, who were too busy celebrating the announced return of junior quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Matt Barkley to pay much attention.

USC may be a bad basketball team, but Kansas deserves credit for not playing to the Trojans’ level.

KU built a 22-12 lead with a 9-0 run fueled by transition buckets by Elijah Johnson, Tyshawn Taylor and Thomas Robinson. KU built on its 25-13 halftime lead in the second half thanks to a six-point burst from Robinson that put the Jayhawks up 52-32. Conner Teahan finished USC off with back-to-back threes to give KU a 62-42 lead.