KU notebook: Kentucky up next, Oubre plays four minutes

First half

▪ Key play: Freshman guard Devonte’ Graham drilled a deep jumper, giving Kansas a 16-15 lead with 7:35 left in the half. The bucket started a 9-0 run.

▪ Key stat: KU held Santa Barbara to just 26.9 percent shooting.

Second half

▪ Key play: Freshman wing Svi Mykhailiuk drove the lane and dished off to fellow freshman Cliff Alexander for a dunk. The bucket gave KU a 52-41 lead and kickstarted another run.

▪ Key stat: KU had 29 bench points.

Looking ahead

▪ No. 5 Kansas will face No. 1 Kentucky on Tuesday night at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis. Earlier this week, SMU coach Larry Brown predicted that Kentucky could finish the season undefeated. When asked about the comments of his one-time boss at Kansas, coach Bill Self said: “Who knows what Larry’s doing; he may be mad at (Kentucky coach John Calipari) about something.”

Self added: “I haven’t seen enough, but they’re a team that could obviously make a run like that.”

▪ Freshman wing Kelly Oubre played just four minutes and sat the entire second half during Kansas’ 69-59 win Friday. Oubre, a McDonald’s All-American wing, is still trying to find comfort in Kansas’ system.

“It was a coach’s decision,” Self said, “just trying to do what’s best for our team. It’s not a knock to Kelly. It’s just, he’s young.”

▪ Sophomore wing Brannen Greene earned the first start of his career. He finished with just three points in 17 minutes. On Thursday, Self confirmed that sophomores Wayne Selden and Frank Mason and juniors Perry Ellis and Jamari Traylor were a lock to start the Jayhawks’ season opener. But at that moment, he was still mulling the fifth starter. It turned out to be Greene — but only for a half. Freshman guard Graham replaced Greene to start the second half after a hot first half.

| Rustin Dodd, rdodd@kcstar.com

This story was originally published November 14, 2014 at 11:02 PM with the headline "KU notebook: Kentucky up next, Oubre plays four minutes."