Big second half gives Kansas 82-67 win over Oregon State

The watch was supposed to be a gift, a piece of Kansas City for the head basketball coach at Kansas.

Nine days before the Kansas Jayhawks took the floor at the Sprint Center on Saturday night, a Kansas City entrepreneur named Mike Wilson traveled to Lawrence and dropped by Bill Self’s office on the KU campus. He came with a keepsake — a customized wrist watch engineered and crafted by Niall, a local Kansas City company looking to align itself with Self’s successful brand. The watch had a blue dial, a snazzy blue band, and would retail for a little less than $4,000. Self accepted the watch with a smile and posed for a photo.

No. 2 Kansas trailed Oregon State by 13 points in the first half Saturday night. The Jayhawks’ offense was a fragmented mess. Sprint Center was a mausoleum.

How did coach Bill Self take out his frustration? By punching his left wrist with his right fist and sending the watch flying into pieces.

“It came apart,” Self deadpanned.

By the end of the night, after an 82-67 victory over Oregon State, here was the final tally.

1. One broken (then repaired) watch.

2. One resurgent and thriving backcourt.

3. One entertaining come-from-behind victory in the Jayhawks’ annual trip to the Sprint Center.

With the starting backcourt leading the way, Kansas overcame a sluggish start and erased an 11-point halftime deficit.

The performance stretched Kansas’ winning streak to seven games and left Self to contemplate the future of a rotation that included just seven players for most of the second half.

“You saw the best and the worst of the Kansas Jayhawks tonight,” Self said. “That was as bad as we’ve played the first half … but the second half, that’s the best we’ve played.”

The numbers would agree. Junior guard Wayne Selden, who entered the night shooting 59.5 percent from three-point range, continued his torrid pace. He finished with 22 points while drilling 5 of 8 from deep. Frank Mason added 18 points and six assists, while Devonte’ Graham offered a spark (and 10 points, five assists and three steals) as the Jayhawks jetted past Oregon State during the second half.

“We played with more energy,” Selden said.

“It wasn’t panic,” Selden said. “It was just fixing what we had to fix. I told Devonte’ and Frank at halftime: We had to fix it, because the team goes as we go.”

The streamlined rotation meant no Brannen Greene or Svi Mykhailiuk. It also meant a frontcourt mix with no Jamari Traylor, Landen Lucas or Cheick Diallo. As the Jayhawks surged, Self went with Perry Ellis, Hunter Mickelson and Carlton Bragg.

“The second half, I planned on playing everybody again,” Self said. “But when we got on a roll, and got going good, guys said they weren’t tired. I didn’t see any reason to sub.”

In the moments after the game, Self was hopeful the performance would serve as a message to his team — especially its bench.

From a statistical sense, there was little question the second half was Kansas’ finest 20-minute stretch of the season. The Jayhawks averaged 1.46 points per possession during the second half, outscoring the Beavers 54-28 on the scoreboard and piecing together a beautiful blend of free-flowing basketball. Graham was a menace on defense, picking off three steals. Mason controlled the tempo, continually slicing through the Oregon State defense. In 20 minutes of basketball, the Jayhawks shot 65.6 percent from the floor, hit 5 of 9 from three and had just two turnovers.

“That was a hell of a deal we were facing the second half,” Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said.

Of course, it took close to 20 minutes for Kansas to find its footing on Saturday. The Jayhawks hit just three of their first 10 shots and shot 37.5 percent in the first half. Once again, the Jayhawks' low-post offense was missing, and Self shuffled big men in and out, looking for a spark.

“We came out flat,” Graham said.

The lack of energy manifested itself in a lack of easy looks and open shots. EnteringSaturday night, the Jayhawks were the No. 1 three-point shooting team in the country, drilling 47.2 percent from behind the arc. In the opening 20 minutes, they took just seven threes and connected on two of them.

As Kansas’ offense worked for cohesion, the Beavers rode the playmaking of Gary Payton II and the shooting of Tinkle, the coach’s son. Tinkle drilled his first five three-pointers and Payton converted a flying, left-handed slam on top of Diallo.

When the first half was over, the Beavers led 39-28, and Self’s left wrist was naked. When the night was over, the watch once again adorned Self’s wrist. A screw of some sort had been fixed, Self said.

Just as his team had been.

The Jayhawks regrouped, and Kansas had 20 minutes of hard evidence: When this backcourt is playing well, the Jayhawks can be a blistering offensive machine.

“In the second half, that’s the best the ball has moved,” Self said. “And that’s the hardest we’ve drove it. And it seemed like, to me, we were one step ahead of them.”

No. 2 KANSAS 82

OREGON STATE 67

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Percentages: FG .426, FT .684. Three-Point Goals: 8-16, .500 (Tinkle 5-7, Schaftenaar 2-4, Duvivier 1-2, Payton II 0-1, Thompson Jr. 0-1, Morris-Walker 0-1). Blocked Shots: 3 (Eubanks 2, N’diaye). Turnovers: 18 (Payton II 4, Tinkle 3, Eubanks 3, Duvivier 2, Reid 2, Schaftenaar, Stangel, Thompson Jr., team). Steals: 2 (Tinkle, Thompson Jr.). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: None.

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Percentages: FG .536, FT .600. Three-Point Goals: 7-16, .438 (Selden Jr. 5-8, Ellis 1-1, Graham 1-4, Greene 0-1, Mickelson 0-1, Mason III 0-1). Blocked Shots: 5 (Mickelson 2, Selden Jr. 2, Diallo). Turnovers: 11 (Ellis 2, Selden Jr. 2, Bragg Jr. 2, Greene, Lucas, Mickelson, Mason III, team). Steals: 11 (Mason III 3, Graham 3, Bragg Jr. 2, Selden Jr., Ellis, Mickelson). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: None.

Half: Oregon State 39-28. Attendance: 18,612. Officials: Steve Olson, Larry Spaulding, Michael Greenstein.

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 8:19 PM with the headline "Big second half gives Kansas 82-67 win over Oregon State."