Jayhawks’ Big 12/SEC Challenge opponent is usually Kentucky. This year it’s Tennessee
Kansas has been matched against fellow blueblood Kentucky in the Big 12/SEC Challenge three times in the six-year history of the event.
Not this year.
The No. 3-ranked Jayhawks (15-3) will meet unranked Tennessee (12-6) at 3 p.m. Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse in a rematch of last year’s finals of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Jayhawks outlasted the Vols, 87-81 in overtime, in a thriller that ESPN certainly has deemed worthy of a sequel.
Kentucky, meanwhile, will travel to 2019 Final Four participant Texas Tech on Saturday.
Other matchups in the one-day, 10-game event that interrupts the conference season of the two leagues: Missouri at West Virginia, Iowa State at Auburn, Mississippi State at Oklahoma, LSU at Texas, TCU at Arkansas, Oklahoma State at Texas A&M, Kansas State at Alabama and Baylor at Florida.
Big 12 teams are 35-25 in the challenge after winning six of 10 games last season. Overall, the Big 12 is 4-1-1 against the SEC. KU is 2-1 against Kentucky, 1-1 versus Florida and 1-0 against Texas A&M for a 4-2 record in the first six years of the challenge.
The Jayhawks are 3-1 all-time against Tennessee. Here’s a look at each of the four contests, which have all been played during the 17-year Bill Self era.
Kansas 87, Tennessee 81 (OT)
NIT Season Tip-Off final, Nov. 23, 2018, Brooklyn, New York
KU junior forward Dedric Lawson, who missed a possible game-winning shot from the corner to end regulation, scored eight of No. 2-ranked KU’s 18 points in overtime. Lawson scored seven points and his brother, K.J. Lawson, totaled three in a 13-6 run that lifted KU to an 82-75 lead with 1:23 left in overtime.
Lawson, the tourney MVP, finished with 24 points and 13 boards in 41 minutes. Senior guard Lagerald Vick, who also made the all-tourney team, scored 15 points and dished four assists in 43 minutes. Freshman guard Devon Dotson scored 17 points with four rebounds and two assists in 40 minutes.
Junior center Udoka Azubuike scored nine points with four rebounds in 17 minutes. He fouled out with 4:26 left in regulation
Tennessee junior Grant Williams scored 18 points with eight rebounds, six assists and five turnovers in 34 minutes. The power forward fouled out with 1:24 left in regulation. Senior guard Admiral Schofield scored 21 points and junior guard Jordan Bone 16 points for the No. 5-ranked Vols.
K.J. Lawson scored eight points and corralled six rebounds in 19 minutes. He subbed for freshman Quentin Grimes in the overtime session. Grimes scored juist five points with four boards in 21 minutes.
KU cashed 5 of 17 threes to Tennessee’s 7 of 27. The Jayhawks hit 50% of their shots but suffered 16 turnovers. Tennessee hit 41.3% of its shots and had 14 turnovers.
KU sophomore guard Marcus Garrett missed the game because of concussion-like symptoms suffered late in KU’s NIT Season Tip-Off semifinal victory over Marquette.
Kansas 82, Tennessee 67
Orlando Classic semifinal, Nov. 28, 2014, Orlando, Florida
KU junior forward Perry Ellis scored 24 points, freshman center Cliff Alexander tallied 16 and sophomore guard Frank Mason contributed 11 points and seven assists for No. 11-ranked KU. Unranked Tennessee was led by senior guard Josh Richardson and junior guard Kevin Punter who had 16 and 14 points respectively. Freshman guard Detrick Mostella contributed 13 points.
Alexander’s basket and foul shot keyed a 7-0 stretch as Kansas led 69-62 with five minutes left. Ellis’ basket and foul shot made it 74-64 with two minutes to go. Alexander, who was embroiled in an NCAA eligibility issue and did not finish the season with KU, had back-to-back dunks to give the Jayhawks a 53-40 lead four minutes into the second half. The Volunteers crept to within 54-53 with 12 minutes to play as Mostella hit a pair of threes and Richardson a layup following a Kansas turnover.
Of the 6-foot-9 Alexander, Self said: “I don’t know that we’ve had anybody with more of a college-ready body. He’s doing a good job of getting on the offensive glass because he’s smart enough to know that if he gets a rebound on offense he can actually shoot it. Obviously he doesn’t believe he can shoot it on the defensive end because he got zero rebounds. ... but his rebounds per minutes is pretty good. He will tell you he’s starting to get it.”
Kansas outrebounded UT, 44-22. The Jayhawks had 18 offensive rebounds.
“Let’s not kid ourselves,” Self said. “They (Vols) play small a lot and they’re not going to be a great rebounding team. They kind of remind me of Nolan’s (Richardson) teams a little bit at Arkansas. They get outrebounded, but they make up for it on deflections and steals and that kind of stuff.”
Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall was impressed with the Jayhawks.
”They’re obviously a top 10 team for a reason. They’re tough and talented and well coached and they have great depth,” Tyndall said. “We talked about endlessly to our team over the last 24 hours the key to this game would be boxing out and rebounding the basketball ... giving up 18 offensive rebounds, you’re not going to beat a team of that quality doing that. We’ve got a long way to go but it was a good, competitive game against a good, quality team.”
Tennessee 76, Kansas 68
Jan. 10, 2010, Knoxville, Tennessee
The Vols, who were ranked No. 16, knocked off No. 1 KU, 76-68, in the Vols’ campus arena in what was called one of the biggest victories in school history.
Freshman walk-on guard Skylar McBee hit a three-pointer with just over a minute left after KU had cut the gap to 71-68.
Coach Bruce Pearl’s Vols had just six scholarship players available for the game. Tyler Smith, Melvin Goins, Cameron Tatum and Brian Williams all were out for disciplinary reasons.
Sophomore guard Scotty Hopson led the Vols with 17 points in the shocking victory.
Self said the Jayhawks, who were led by senior guard Sherron Collins (22 points) resembled “guys on an island looking out for ourselves, rather than being as one.”
Collins cashed 7 of 20 shots (2 of 10 from three) with five assists to four turnovers. Junior forward Cole Aldrich scored seven points on 3-of-5 shooting with 18 rebounds.
“I think every team would love to think they could (go undefeated). The reality of it is, it is probably not going to happen,” Aldrich said after KU fell to 14-1.
“The odds of that happening are far-fetched just because in this day and age every team from top to bottom is that good,” Aldrich added.
Sophomore guard Tyshawn Taylor scored 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting while freshman wing Xavier Henry had 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting. KU hit 7 of 27 threes to UT’s 9 of 18.
McBee scored six points in 23 minutes, while fellow walk-on Bone had three points and two assists in 12 minutes and walk-on Steven Pearl, son of coach Pearl, an assist and three rebounds in 10 minutes.
Kansas 92, Tennessee 85
Jan. 3, 2009, Allen Fieldhouse
Junior guard Collins scored 26 points off 7-of-14 shooting with nine assists and five rebounds as unranked KU beat No. 14 Tennessee in the first-ever men’s hoop game between the teams.
“I came out more energized than I’ve probably ever been in a game,” Collins said after hitting 10 of 14 free throws, including two with 3:52 left to give KU a 79-70 lead.
The Jayhawks led by as many as 17 points (72-55) with 7:22 left, the lead dropping to seven points at 4:33.
“I just wanted this game so bad. Coach Self called it a ‘man’s game.’ He said, ‘If you are not a man, you shouldn’t be out there. We won’t put you out there,’’’ said Collins, who played 36 minutes.
Sophomore center Aldrich had 22 points, 10 boards and six blocks in 37 minutes.
“Coach said the way I controlled the game and the way I got in there and got my teammates shots ... he said I didn’t try to do too much. I let the game come to me,” said Collins, whose three in an 11-0 run gave KU a 25-9 lead.
Collins scored 14 points and Aldrich 11 on combined 11-of-18 shooting as KU led, 40-31, after 20 minutes.
“The first half … that’s about as good a guard can play offensively,” Self said of Collins, who had five assists and no turnovers in the first 20 minutes. “He was fabulous offensively.”
Sophomore guard Brady Morningstar had 12 points and six assists against three turnovers. Freshman Taylor also had 12 points off 6-of-11 shooting with three assists.
“I said to Brady, ‘How did you feel talking the ball out all the time?’ He said, ‘Man, it’s tough every time,’’’ Taylor said. “He did a good job beating the pressure.”
KU committed 17 turnovers against UT’s pressure.
Junior forward Tyler Smith had 21 points and nine rebounds to lead the Vols. Junior forward Wayne Chism had 17 points and eight boards, junior guard Bobby Maze 14 points and Hopson 11 points for UT.
Freshman Cameron Tatum came off the bench to score 10 points.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 1:49 PM.
