KU snaps losing streak at Oklahoma State with 90-85 win

Frank Mason’s last regular-season game at Kansas may have been his best.

“It’s got to be up there,” KU senior forward Landen Lucas said after watching 5-foot-11 senior guard Mason score 27 points, tie a career high with nine assists and grab eight rebounds while playing 36 minutes in the No. 1-ranked Jayhawks’ 90-85 victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday at Gallagher-Iba Arena.

“I mean this is like Russell Westbrook numbers out there. He was close to a triple double,” Lucas added.

“He did things defensively to help us out. He carried the team.”

Mason didn’t stake claim to the third official triple-double in KU history on Saturday — Jeff Withey and Cole Aldrich have the only two in KU’s record books — but did up his season scoring average to 20.5 points a game and assist average to 5.1 per contest.

No player in the 21-year history of the Big 12 has averaged 20 points and five assists per game.

“I didn’t have a clue. I don’t think about things like that,” Mason said, unaware he needed 12 points and seven assists on Saturday to attain those averages.

“I just try to find ways to get better to make sure my team is successful,” Mason added.

Mason did concede Saturday’s 2016-17 regular-season finale proved one of his finest efforts.

“I think so,” Mason said. “I still think I could have done a lot of things better.”

He shined the brightest on a night that featured stellar performances from some standout guards.

KU’s Josh Jackson scored 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds.

Jackson had what Kansas coach Bill Self called “probably the biggest shot of the game” — a three-pointer that upped the lead to 86-80 with 1:47 left in the game.

Also, Devonté Graham contributed 13 points with four assists against four turnovers, and Lagerald Vick had nine points and eight rebounds.

Kansas forward Carlton Bragg hit 5 of 6 shots en route to 11 points, while Lucas had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Oklahoma State guard Jeffrey Carroll scored a career-high 27 points on 9-of-17 shooting (5 for 11 on three-pointers), while guard Jawun Evans had 22 points and a career-high 15 assists.

“Everybody played well tonight on both sides,” Graham said, asked specifically about the guards. “I feel everybody was shooting the ball (KU hit 55.7 percent of its shots including 9 of 21 threes to Oklahoma State’s 42.3 percent including 12 of 36 threes). Frank obviously was the best player on this court, and he showed it.”

Graham conceded it was fun to watch two certain first-team all-leaguers in Mason and Evans.

“I think that’s what brings out the best in him,” Graham said of Mason facing highly-touted guards. “Jawun might enter the draft. They went head to head, and it was a great show.”

Mason’s performance — he hit 9 of 16 shots (including 3 of 8 threes) and 6 free throws in 6 tries— impressed Self, who has come to expect that kind of play from KU’s lead guard.

“Certainly Carroll and Evans were fabulous for them, but Frank was … you know he probably solidified a lot of things today. He was great,” Self said.

Mason figures to be a lock for Big 12 player of the year and remains a leading candidate for national player of the year.

“Other than maybe (Blake) Griffin and (Michael) Beasley and obviously Kevin (Durant), I don’t know if anybody has had a better year than what Frank’s had,” Self said.

“He’s definitely my national player of the year. I definitely voted for him,” Graham joked. Graham, of course, has no vote in the country’s various player award categories.

Mason said he was fired up in trying to win his first game at Gallagher-Iba Arena. KU, which enters the postseason on an eight-game winning streak, snapped a three-year losing streak in Stillwater, where Self’s record as KU’s coach is now 4-6.

“It means a lot to get my first win here, but it’s not all about me. It’s about the team and program,” Mason said. “We’ve been bad the last three years here. We just wanted to come here this year and change it.”

Self acknowledged it was nice to play well at his alma mater.

“Frank hadn’t won here. He was oh-fer,” Self said. “Landen and Tyler (Self) … Naadir (Tharpe) made a shot to win here their freshman year. We’ve not played well down here at all. It was nice to come down here and play better,” Self added.

He truly enjoyed the crowd-pleasing game.

“That’s about as good and entertaining a basketball game as you could have,” Self said. “Even if the outcome was different I would have thought that was a good basketball game.”

The Jayhawks, who led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but just three at halftime, finished the Big 12 regular season with a 28-3 overall record, 16-2 in league games. KU, which has won an NCAA record-tying 13 straight league titles, finished four games ahead of 12-6 teams Baylor, Iowa State and West Virginia. Oklahoma State (20-11, 9-9), which entered having won 10 of 12 games, finished fifth in the 10-team league.

“It was a grind. We got tested every game,” Self said. “I thought for the most part we played well in late-game situations. But it was a grind. It’s like when you have a one-point lead with 15 seconds left, they miss an uncontested shot, you get the rebound, they foul a couple times and you win by eight. It wasn’t an eight-point game. Just like it wasn’t a four-game league race.”

KU now has won the Big 12 by four games four times in the 21-year history of the league: this season, as well as 1996-97, 1997-98 and 2009-10.

The Jayhawks will meet the winner of Wednesday’s Oklahoma-TCU game in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal contest at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at Sprint Center.

Bragg has big game

Of KU sophomore forward Bragg’s performance, Self said: “I thought he played great. Guys did a good of job finding him off ball screens when he ran to the rim.”

Bragg, who hit 5 of 6 shots, said: “This helps my confidence. I’m still in the process … trying to get better, each game trying to get better.”

Brad Underwood’s take

Oklahoma State coach Brad Underwood on the game: “A lot of credit goes to Kansas. I thought they were way more aggressive, really all night than we were. That was very reflective in the rebounding numbers (KU 42, OSU 30).

“I thought again Lagerald Vick was absolutely a Cowboy destroyer. He got us in the first game with four rebounds, and he had nine today. They made every single hustle play that great teams do. That’s a position at the small forward spot that we have been dominating on the glass, and they won that battle today. “You’re not beating the No. 1 team in the country when you get out rebounded by 12.”

Phil Forte’s take

Oklahoma State guard Phil Forte (13 points, 3 of 8 on three-pointers) on Mason and Evans playing against each other: “Those two might be the two best point guards in the country. They were just delivering blow for blow. That’s what happens when you get two good players out there competing and playing their tails off.

“I thought Jawun played great, and he’s done that all year. He’s very good at making everybody else’s job easy.”

No. 1 KANSAS 90, OKLAHOMA STATE 85

TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers

Percentages: FG .557, FT .765. Three-Point Goals: 9-21, .429 (Graham 4-8, Mason 3-8, Jackson 1-2, Mykhailiuk 1-2, Vick 0-1). Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: 14 (0 PTS). Blocked Shots: 5 (Bragg 2, Jackson, Lucas, Vick). Turnovers: 14 (Graham 4, Vick 3, Jackson 2, Lucas 2, Mason 2, Mykhailiuk). Steals: 6 (Vick 2, Graham, Jackson, Lucas, Mason). Technical Fouls: None.

TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers

Percentages: FG .423, FT .929. Three-Point Goals: 12-36, .333 (Carroll 5-11, Forte 3-8, Hammonds 2-6, Dillard 1-3, Evans 1-6, Averette 0-2). Team Rebounds: 4. Team Turnovers: 8 (0 PTS). Blocked Shots: 3 (Solomon 2, Hammonds). Turnovers: 8 (Evans 3, Averette 2, Forte 2, Carroll). Steals: 7 (Forte 2, Solomon 2, Dillard, Evans, McGriff). Technical Fouls: None.

Half: Kansas 43-40. Attendance: 13,611.

This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 7:15 PM with the headline "KU snaps losing streak at Oklahoma State with 90-85 win."