Junior Elijah Johnson’s career high 23 points led Kansas to a win over UCLA Tuesday night in the semi-finals of the 2011 Maui Invitational. Johnson went 8-13 from the field during the game, including 4-8 from three. As it turned out the Jayhawks needed all of Johnson’s 23 points in order to put the Bruins away. The Jayhawks had a double digit lead throughout much of the first half, and even pushed their lead to 20 early in the second half before the Bruins took advantage of the 18 turnovers the Jayhawks had during the contest. UCLA got back to within 5 of the Jayhawks before Kansas went on one final run in the last 4 minutes to put the Bruins away for good.
Thomas Robinson continued to impress by scoring 15 points and snagging 10 rebounds against the Bruins, but his 5 turnovers are a reason for concern moving forward. Multiple times Robinson lost control of the ball when putting the ball on the floor. Robinson shot 7-11 from the field, but only attempted 1 free throw during the game. Travis Releford only scored 8 points, but it felt like 18 because his buckets seemed to come at the best times for the Jayhawks. Tyshawn Taylor added 13 points and 6 assists, but he also had 4 turnovers during the game.
Kansas moves from one fellow blue blood of college basketball to another on Wednesday night when they tip off against Duke at 9:00pm central. The Jayhawks will have to value their possessions much more than they have shown so far in Maui or the Blue Devils will punish them in transition.
Coach Self and players post game audio
