Bluebloods Kansas, Kentucky to continue ‘very competitive’ hoops rivalry Saturday
Kentucky has compiled a lopsided 22-9 record against Kansas in head-to-head meetings between the two college basketball programs with the most NCAA victories.
With 2,264 victories to UK’s 2,278, however, the Jayhawks have made up some ground of late by winning six of nine games versus the Wildcats during the 16-year Bill Self era.
Self is 3-0 against Wildcat teams coached by Tubby Smith and 3-3 versus UK squads led by current coach John Calipari.
Self’s KU teams have fared much better than squads of his five predecessors. Roy Williams went 1-3 versus UK. Larry Brown was 1-2, Ted Owens 1-12, Dick Harp 0-1 and Phog Allen 0-1.
The bluebloods will meet for the fifth straight season Saturday, when KU — 3-1 in the past four meetings — plays UK in a SEC/Big 12 Challenge game at 5 p.m. Central time at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.
The series — which ran uninterrupted from 1971-85 but has had as long as six-, seven-, nine- and 10-year stretches between games — figures to continue for at least two more seasons.
KU looks to be a lock to play host to Kentucky in the 2019-20 SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Such a game (pairings are announced in the summer) would effectively complete what would be a two-year home-and-home series between the squads, which are scheduled to meet in the Champions Classic in 2020-21.
“Our players live to play in these types of games. Kentucky players do as well. There is something very competitive when you get Kentucky and Kansas together,” Self said of the highly anticipated matchups.
No. 9-ranked KU will enter Saturday’s clash 16-3 overall and 5-2 in Big 12 Conference play. No. 8-ranked Kentucky, winner of five straight games, is 15-3 overall and 5-1 in the SEC.
“He (Calipari) has done an unbelievable job. I certainly have a lot of respect for everything they’ve done and accomplished,” Self said of the Wildcats under Calipari, who has compiled a 290-67 record in 10 seasons. “I can’t speak for him but I’d say the feeling is mutual.”
Said Calipari, who has KU ties: “It’s a great campus, great tradition, great coaches have been there. Bill has followed in that line.”
Self was a graduate assistant at Kansas under Larry Brown in 1985-86. Calipari was an assistant coach at Kansas from 1982-85.
Here’s a quick look at the eight head-to-head matchups between teams coached by Calipari and Self. This includes KU’s victory over Calipari’s Memphis Tigers in the 2008 NCAA championship contest and Memphis’ victory over Self’s Illinois Fighting Illini in 2002 in Memphis.
Kansas 65, Kentucky 61, Nov. 14, 2017, Chicago: Svi Mykhailiuk sank three three-pointers and scored 17 points and Devonté Graham hit the clinching free throws as No. 4 KU defeated No. 7 Kentucky at the Champions Classic.
Udoka Azubuike scored 13 points, Malik Newman 12 and Graham 11 for KU.
Kevin Knox hit three threes and scored 20 points for Kentucky. Hamidou Diallo added 14 points.
“A lot of people had us losing this game at least by 20, 30 points,” Knox said after the game. “But we said it wasn’t going to happen. They’re a veteran team. We’re a really young team. A lot of people thought they had the advantage. But tonight we really fought.”
Graham — he hit 3 of 14 shots and committed five turnovers — connected on two free throws with 7.1 seconds left to complete the victory.
“It was a great grind-it-out win,” Self said. “We dealt with some stuff today and certainly to basically play six guys and be able to pull that off when we were totally gassed, I’m really proud of my team.”
KU announced prior to tipoff that freshman forward Billy Preston would not play because of an eligibility issue that wiped out his entire one-and-done season at Kansas.
Kansas 79, Kentucky 73, Jan. 28, 2017, Rupp Arena: Frank Mason scored 21 points — 13 the second half — while Josh Jackson had 20 points and 10 rebounds to pace No. 2 KU past No. 4 UK in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. KU went 0-for-8 from three and trailed by 12 points late in the first half, then went 5-for-11 from beyond the arc after the break.
Landen Lucas scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds while Graham had 12 points and seven boards. Malik Monk and Derek Willis scored 18 points apiece, while Isaiah Briscoe had 12 points and De’Aaron Fox 10 for UK.
Kentucky which trailed by 10 points with 4:41 left, cut the deficit to four points before Mykhailiuk’s two free throws at :16 assured victory.
KU used a variety of defenses, including a zone, to slow Kentucky.
“I find making threes gets kind of contagious,” said KU’s Jackson, who hit two threes to start the second half. I think it kind of opened it up for us a little bit.”
Kansas 90, Kentucky 84, OT, Jan. 30, 2016, Allen Fieldhouse: Wayne Selden scored 33 points, including seven in overtime and the No. 4-ranked Jayhawks held off the No. 20 Wildcats in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
“It’s as good a game as he’s played since he’s been here,” Self said of Selden, now an NBA player with the Chicago Bulls.
Kentucky led by eight points midway through the second half before Self implemented a zone defense. Perry Ellis made the second of two free throws to tie the game, 76-76, with nine seconds left in regulation and Tyler Ulis fumbled the ball at the other end before Kentucky could attempt a shot.
Mason scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Graham added 11 points for the Jayhawks, who snapped a three-game losing streak to the Wildcats. Ulis finished with a career-high 26 points and eight assists. Jamal Murray added 15 points. Alex Poythress had 13 and Isaiah Briscoe 12.
Kentucky 72, Kansas 40, Nov. 18, 2014, Indianapolis: Top-ranked Kentucky clobbered the No. 5 Jayhawks in the Champions Classic despite having just two players score in double figures. Dakari Johnson scored 11 points and Andrew Harrison 10 while Willie Cauley-Stein added seven points and 10 rebounds.
Selden led the Jayhawks with nine points. Cliff Alexander finished with eight. The Jayhawks made only 11 baskets — eight in the first half, three in the second. They shot just 19.6 percent from the field and were 3 of 15 on three-pointers. Kentucky led, 38-28, at halftime and rolled, 34-12, the final half.
Self called it a “beatdown right from the beginning.”
Calipari said: “We kind of bum-rushed them a little bit and every time they looked there were more tanks coming over the hill. It wasn’t substitutes, it was reinforcements. It kind of gets to you a little bit. “
Kentucky 67, Kansas 59, April 2, 2012, New Orleans: Anthony Davis scored six points on 1-of-10 shooting with 16 rebounds and six blocks in the NCAA championship game. Doron Lamb, who scored 22 points, hit back-to-back three-pointers that put Kentucky up by 16 points with 10 minutes left. KU trailed by five with 1:37 left. But Kentucky made five free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Tyshawn Taylor scored 19 points, while Thomas Robinson had 18 points and 17 rebounds,
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 11 points the first half to give UK a 41-27 lead.
“I wanted everybody to see, we were the best team this season,” Calipari told ESPN after the game. “We were the best team. I wanted this to be one for the ages.”
KU’s Travis Releford, who had four points on 1-for-6 shooting said: “Nobody even expected us to be here in the first place or for us to have a great season. And we did. We were able to compete for a championship. We had a great year.”
Kentucky 75, Kansas 65, Nov. 15, 2011, New York: Lamb scored 17 points and Terrence Jones 15 in the No. 2-ranked Wildcats’ win over No. 12 KU at the Champions Classic.
Davis contributed 14 points and blocked seven shots, while Kidd-Gilchrist had 12 points and nine boards. Kentucky blocked 13 shots and held the Jayhawks to 33.9 percent shooting. Taylor, who grew up in Hoboken, N.J., scored 22 points, while Robinson added 11 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 3:31 remaining.
“They are really talented one through seven. Two or three games in, they’re going to be really, really good once they get more practice and more reps,” KU’s Taylor said of UK after the game. “A lot of the guys are young still. I think they’re going to be amazing.”
“They had a will to win. That’s what I wanted to see,” Calipari said. “That’s the hardest thing to teach in what we do, a will to win. This team seems to have that.”
Kansas 75, Memphis 68 (OT), April 7, 2008, San Antonio: KU, which trailed, 60-51, with 2:12 left in regulation, chipped away at the huge deficit and caught the Tigers, 63-63, on a three-pointer by Mario Chalmers with 2.1 seconds left. The Jayhawks rolled, 12-5 in overtime, to claim the NCAA title.
“I had a good look at it. When it left my hands it felt like it was good, and it just went in,” Chalmers said of what has been called the biggest shot in school history.
Noted Calipari: “Ten seconds to go, we’re thinking we’re national champs, all of a sudden a kid makes a shot, and we’re not.”
Memphis 77, Illinois 74, Dec. 28, 2002, Memphis: Chris Massie scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his first game of the season as unranked Memphis held off Self’s No. 7-ranked Illinois team.
Massie had been academically ineligible for the first seven games of the season. Illinois guard Dee Brown missed a three-pointer with two seconds left, a shot that, had it fallen, would have forced OT.
Before beating Illinois, Memphis had suffered 14 straight losses to teams in the top 25. Illinois was the first top 25 team to play at the Memphis Pyramid since Calipari joined the Tigers for the 2000-01 season. Brian Cook led Illinois with 21 points and Brown had 19.
“I do remember it was my third year at Illinois. I think they beat us in a real close game in Memphis. I know they won. I don’t remember the score,” Self said.
This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 12:46 PM.
