No. 11 Kansas 71, No. 24 Florida 65: Wayne Selden Jr. scored 14 of his 21 points after intermission as the host Jayhawks overcame a huge second-half deficit to down the Gators in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Freshman Cliff Alexander logged his first double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Kansas (6-1), which outscored Florida 44-20 over the final 16:40 to dig out of an 18-point hole. Perry Ellis added 10 points for the Jayhawks.
Devin Robinson led the way with 13 points before fouling out for Florida (3-4), which saw its school-record nine-game winning streak in true road games snapped. Chris Walker added a career-high 12 points while Jon Horford and Michael Frazier II contributed 10 apiece for the Gators.
Kansas led 14-10 with 13:42 left in the opening half before the Jayhawks missed nine of their next 10 shots and Florida used a 14-0 surge behind five points from Dorian Finney-Smith, while Horford’s bucket in the lane off a drive from Kasey Hill with 2:27 left widened the gap to 17. The Gators connected on three of their first four field goals and increased their lead to 45-27 less than 3½ minutes into the second half.
Florida held a nine-point lead with 8:40 left following a 3-pointer from Robinson, but missed its next 10 shots while Selden and Alexander combined to score 12 of the next 13 points for Kansas, which finished off a 33-7 run on a jumper from Ellis with 3:21 remaining. Hill ended the Gators’ 7½-minute field-goal drought with 1:09 to go, but Kansas hit 11 consecutive free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Florida fell below .500 for the first time since the end of the 1997-98 season. … Kansas improved to 178-9 under coach Bill Self at home. … The Gators shot 53.6 percent in the first half and 34.5 percent in the second.
Florida | Kansas | |
Devin Robinson 13 | Scoring | Wayne Selden Jr 21 |
Kasey Hill 8 | Assists | Devonte Graham 3 |
Jon Horford 5 | Rebounds | Cliff Alexander 10 |
Devin Robinson 3 | Free Throws Made | Devonte Graham 9 |
Chris Chiozza 3 | Steals | Devonte Graham 3 |
Dorian Finney-Smith 1 | Blocks | Landen Lucas 2 |