The Kansas Jayhawks had to come up big down the stretch against a very game Temple squad on Sunday inside Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas freshman Ben McLemore came up big with 2:45 left to go in the game when he snagged KU’s first steal of the game before taking flight and giving Kansas the 58-57 lead. The two minute stretch before McLemore’s dunk saw both team have opportunities to gain control of the game, but neither team could take advantage of blocked shots, turnovers and missed shots. Once McLemore put Allen Fieldhouse into crazy mode – the Jayhawks kept coming up with big plays that led to the 69-62 Kansas win.
Kansas was led by Kevin Young’s 16 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists. Jeff Withey fell 2 points shy of a triple double with 8 points, 11 rebounds and 9 blocks. PG Elijah Johnson added 9 points and 9 assists and Travis Releford, who nailed a three pointer that put KU up 65-58 with 37 seconds to go, finished with 14 points and 4 rebounds before fouling out.
Temple was led by crafty scoring Khalif Wyatt who shot 8-19 from the field for 26 points and 4 rebounds. Wyatt also went 7-7 from the free throw line which extends his made free throw streak to 30 in a row.
Kansas outscored Temple 34-22 in the paint
Temple outscored Kansas 12-4 off turnovers
Temple outscored Kansas 12-6 in 2nd chance points
Both teams had 11 fast break points
Kansas outscored Temple 9-4 in bench points
Kansas finished the game 24-55 (43.6%) from the field, 5-14 from 3 and 16-18 from the line
Temple finished the game 19-63 (30.2%) from the field, 4-17 from the 3 and 20-26 from the line
Kansas out-rebounded Temple 46-32
