Kansas basketball earns important road win over Oklahoma Sooners: Here’s how...
Before KU’s game against Oklahoma, former Kansas star and current Toronto Raptor Gradey Dick took pictures with scores of Kansas fans as he took his seat two rows behind KU’s bench.
KU freshman Johnny Furphy — a big fan of last year’s breakout freshman — had an outing reminiscent of the 2022-23 Jayhawk sharpshooter while playing in front of him.
No. 6 Kansas defeated No. 25 Oklahoma 67-57 on Saturday at Lloyd Noble Center. Furphy hit multiple difficult 3-pointers — similar to Dick throughout last season — as he helped lead the Jayhawks to a comeback victory.
The Sooners led by 11 points at one point and held a five-point advantage at the half. But KU controlled the second half, using a 19-7 run to take a 60-50 lead with about six minutes to play.
The KU lead was never in danger from there.
After missing two straight games due to a bone bruise, Kansas guard Kevin McCullar returned to the starting lineup. Freshman Jamari McDowell also returned from an illness and played four minutes.
Hunter Dickinson scored 20 points, while Furphy added 15. KU (20-6, 8-5 Big 12) improved to 3-5 in true road games this season, 2-5 in Big 12 road games.
This was also an important game for Kansas in terms of NCAA Tournament seeding. The Jayhawks learned from today’s committee reveal that they’d be the lowest No. 2 seed if the tournament started today, No. 8 overall in the team rankings.
Up next: Kansas plays host to Texas at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday — as the Jayhawks get a few extra days off.
Until then, here are some takeaways from KU’s win over Oklahoma...
Three-pointers play a role
Kansas road games were starting to feel a bit formulaic — or even predictable — before this one.
The Jayhawks have had issues giving up a ton of 3-pointers to their opponents when stepping away from Allen Fieldhouse. The 3-point disparity has caused problems for the Jayhawks and led to plenty of losses thus far.
Naturally, that’s how the game started against Oklahoma.
The Jayhawks made more field goals than Oklahoma in the first half, 13-12, but the Jayhawks trailed with OU shooting a blistering 7-for-12 (58.3%) from 3.
Before Saturday, the Sooners ranked No. 7 in conference play in 3-point percentage (32.9%).
KU shot 3-for-12 from 3 in the first half, giving OU 12 more points from 3-point shots, on the same number of attempts.
Kansas, though, closed the gap in the second half. The Jayhawks shot 3-for-7 (42.9%) in the second period, while OU went 1-for-11 (9.1%).
Once the 3-point discrepancy narrowed, the Jayhawks were able to take control of the game.
Johnny Furphy continues to impress
Since Furphy joined KU’s starting lineup, he’s quietly been one of KU’s most consistent players.
When KU struggled to play with energy early, he repeatedly made the right plays on the court. Whether getting a pivotal steal or hitting a 3-pointer to stop a KU scoring drought, he was a breath of fresh air as Kansas struggled through the first half.
He finished the game with 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals. He scored eight of those points in the first half and hit the glass for six rebounds in the second frame.
Kevin McCullar returns to the lineup
After missing the last two games due to a bone bruise, KU’s McCullar returned to the starting lineup.
It wasn’t exactly his best outing.
He was ice cold from the floor, going 4-for-14 for 10 points. It seemed like nothing came easy for McCullar in his return — he even went 0-for-2 from the free-throw line despite shooting 80.4% there before Saturday.
He also had three turnovers.
On the positive side, McCullar made a 3-pointer to give KU the lead in the second half and corralled eight rebounds. But there was plenty of rust for McCullar to knock off; he even had a couple of defensive lapses that led to open OU 3-pointers.
Free-throw issues for both sides
It’s not often you see two teams shoot as poorly from the line as KU and OU did.
Kansas shot 9-for-18 (50%) from the line after earning its first free throws early in the second half. OU finished the game fine, shooting 17-for-23 (74%), but the Sooners were 3-for-8 at the line in the first half, 37.5%.
Together, the teams combined to shoot 26-for-41 (63%). It’s part of why both teams struggled to gain control for much of the game.
This story was originally published February 17, 2024 at 5:44 PM.
