Kansas Jayhawks cruise past UCLA Bruins 72-56: NCAA Basketball Recap
Kansas Jayhawks clinched their third win of the NCAA Basketball Championship 2011 by downing UCLA Bruins 72-56. More importantly, this win has propelled them to Maui Invitational Finals against the undisputed Kings of Maui- Duke
Blue Devils, in a fixture that promises to be a thriller.
Jayhawks were cruising to a victory by the start of second half, leading by 20 points, however they blew it up and allowed UCLA to come back in the game. Fortunately for them, they managed to hold their nerves and did not let it
slip any further under pressure.
Elijah Johnson marshalled the winning team with game high 23 points including 4 for 8 from downtown. Thomas Robinson scored 15 points and forced 10 rebounds to complete an impressive double-double whereas Tyshan Taylor added another
13 and dished out 6 assists.
From UCLA, Tyler Lamb was the most aggressive player and finished with 15 points on 3 for 4 shooting from the three-point range and 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Jerime Anderson added another 14 while Reeves Nelson who came
off the bench late chipped in with a quick 12.
Jayhawks drew the first blood courtesy of a driving layup by Jeff Withey. Lazeric Jones then replied from the other end with two consecutive free throws to make it 2 all. The next few minutes saw an aggressive attack from Jayhawks
as they managed to get 9 points ahead 19-10 after 10 minutes. Tyshan and Elijah, who were part of the early onslaught continued the offense and were joined by Thomas Robinson to drift the game miles away from the opponents.
Lazeric and Reeves, despite fighting hard at the other hand failed to bring the gap closer and by the end of the half, Kansas were way ahead at 43-26.
The first few minutes of the second half were devoid of any fireworks as both teams found it hard to find baskets.
The pressure was on UCLA because to score at a rapid pace to give themselves a chance of winning which they to some extent succeeded in doing, after reeling off a 12-2 run to reduce the lead to 51-43.
However, the things got intense when scores reached 54-59 with 5 minutes remaining. That was the time when Kansas big guns got going again and scored quickly to take the lead in double figures again and hence seal the game for
their team.
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