LDN - Sports

No. 5 Kansas tops Georgia for tourney title

[November 23, 2016] KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It may be simple math, but No. 5 Kansas proved once again that three is better than one.

The trio of Frank Mason, Josh Jackson and Devonte Graham powered the Jayhawks past Georgia and Yante Maten for a 65-54 victory in the championship of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at Sprint Center on Tuesday.

"If we didn't have Frank and Devonte and Josh, that would have been a pretty lopsided loss," Kansas coach Bill Self said after his three backcourt starters combined for 48 points. "Those three carried us."

When asked what went wrong for his bigs, Self simply said, "Everything. Dwight (Coleby) was by far the best big man, and he had two points and four rebounds."

Maten finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds, but Georgia (3-2) got little contribution from anyone else. William Jackson was the next highest scorer with seven points.

"We felt like Yante was going to be able to be a dominant force in the game," Georgia coach Mark Fox said. "We knew in the first half that not everybody else was scoring, but Yante was scoring every time. So we wanted to keep going to Yante. He was able to get 17 at the half, and he was able to score in the second half. But he needs a little help around him, and we didn't shoot the ball well (enough) to stay within striking distance.

"You've got to make shots to win. We didn't shoot the ball very good. Give Kansas' defense credit for that, but we shot the ball so poorly the first three-quarters of the game that we weren't in a position to win it."

Self utilized a seldom-used zone defense to stop the Bulldogs, out of necessity. "We probably played 30 minutes of zone," he said. "What saved us was the zone, because they couldn't throw it in the ocean."

Self was impressed with Maten too, but he acknowledges that his big men need to step up their play.

"Maten is a really good player," he said, "but we're going to go against some other guys who are really good players too. To have one guy get 30 and 11 on your guys, you can't win that way."

The Jayhawks held a 10-point advantage at halftime, which was cut to five early in the second half. But a 10-0 run midway through the second half put the game away.

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Mason led Kansas with 19 points. Jackson had 15 and Graham scored 14.

Kansas shot just 39 percent and scored 21 points below its season average.

"Keep executing and play hard," Jackson said when asked about the post-game message from Self. "I think we do a really good job of going over everything we need to do. But sometimes, when we get to the game, we make mistakes."

Maten kept Georgia in the game in the first half. He scored 15 of the Bulldogs' first 17 points. When he took a brief rest on the bench at the 9:22 mark, the score was tied at 18. He sat for 1:13 and the Bulldogs did not score.

The Jayhawks used a 16-5 run to close out the half and claim a 35-25 lead.

Neither team was crisp in the first half. Georgia was just 8 of 28 (29 percent) from the field, and Maten had seven of the Bulldogs' field goals. They made just one shot in 16 attempts over the final 11:45.

Kansas was not a lot better at 12 of 34 (35 percent). Mason led the Jayhawks with 13 first-half points. Jackson scored 11 and Graham nine.

NOTES: Jackson was named the tournament MVP. Joining him on the all-tournament team were Mason and Graham from Kansas, Maten from Georgia and Tyler Cavanaugh from George Washington. ... Kansas is 10-1 in the CBE Classic. Its only loss was to Syracuse in the inaugural title game in 2008. The Jayhawks won the 2012 CBE Classic, defeating St. Louis 73-59. ... Georgia coach Mark Fox is an alum of Kansas, having received his master's in athletic administration/sports psychology in 1996. ... Kansas is 4-0 against Georgia.

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