The fifth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks look to bounce back from a devastating loss last time out, taking on the Oklahoma Sooners at the Lloyd Noble Center Saturday at 4 pm EST on ESPN. Kansas has lost two games in a row after winning 18 straight, which is the longest in the nation this season.
The Jayhawks radio broadcast is streaming live at this link. The Sooners have video and audio broadcasts available via a subscription here.
Both Oklahoma State and TCU were unranked when facing the Jayhawks, and they each won by five-plus points. The loss against the Cowboys was at home, and the game against the Horned Frogs started a two-game road trip.
Kansas has two remaining games against ranked teams on its regular season docket: Monday against #13 Kansas State and February 20 against Oklahoma State again.
The Jayhawks are led by Ben McLemore in the scoring department. The freshman from St. Louis, Missouri averages 16.3 points per game. Jeff Withey is the leading rebounder with 8.3 boards per game, and Elijah Johnson leads the team in helpers per contest, racking up 4.7 assists a contest. Travis Releford leads the team in shooting with a .606 percentage, and Perry Ellis has the best three-point shot, entering today's action with an even .500 mark in that category.
In the previous game, McLemore was a rebound shy of a double-double and led his team in scoring. The team shot 29.5 percent from the floor, 13.6 percent from three, and made less than 70 percent of its free throws.
The Sooners have also lost their last two games, and have also dropped four of the last six contests. The Norman club is in fifth in the conference with a 5-4 record against Big 12 opponents, while Kansas and Kansas State are tied for the led with 7-2 records.
Romero Osby is Oklahoma's leading score with 13.8 points per game. He also leads in rebounds per game (6.5) and field goal percentage (.492). Buddy Hield leads the charge with 2.1 assists per game.
Three players came off of the Sooners' bench to score double-digit points in the last game, but no one in the starting lineup could reach that bench mark as the Iowa State Cyclones topped Oklahoma 83-64. Four players on the squad had at least 6 rebounds in the game, but Iowa State shot ten percent or more better in every shooting category.
The last contest between the Sooners and Jayhawks was a 67-54 win for Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on January 26. Withey had four blocks and was a rebound short of a double-double, Releford had five assists, and McLemore had a team-high 16 points. Andrew Fitzgerald offered eight rebounds off of the Sooners' bench in the defeat. We have highlights of that game here courtesy of ESPN.