Kansas battles it out and takes down Lafayette 96-69

#10 9-1

7-3

Hard work pays off. Whether its basketball, work or life, no truer words can be said. The Jayhawks starting line up was indicative of that today with Freshman Kelly Oubre Jr. getting his first career start.

The Leopards of Lafayette traveled to Lawrence this afternoon for their first ever match up with the Jayhawks. Lafayette was 7-3 coming into todays game. The Jayhawks were without Freshman Devonte' Graham today, so it was set to be a great matchup.

Lafayette got the game started off with a layup by Senior Dan Trist. What is starting to be come a trend with Sophomore Landen Lucas, he got started off with another early foul bringing Trist to the line. The first 45 seconds had Lafayette up 3-0 on the Jayhawks. That didn't last long as Mason and Oubre both nailed two big 3's.

Courtesy: kusports.com

At the 16 minute mark, Freshman Cliff Alexander entered the game. This writer really thought Alexander deserved the start. Alexander has become a beast under the rim and all but can't miss whether its a jumper or a free throw. In just over 30 seconds, Alexander had a huge block, defensive rebound and a layup. 32 seconds of play from Alexander put up better numbers that Lucas had the entire game.

If you tuned into the game around the 13 minute mark you didn't miss much for scoring on both ends. But you did miss some serious defense by Kansas. Kansas had all but shut Lafayette down on both ends of the court. Causing turnovers and grabbing almost every rebound, had Lafayette scrambling to find something to get them started. The Leopards went on a scoring drought and Kansas answered with 2 big runs bringing the score 28-14 with just under 7 minutes in the first half. Kansas Junior Hunter Mickelson got some good 1st half minutes, 7 in total. Mickelson went 2/2 from the field and had 1 blocked shot. It was really good seeing Mickelson get some well deserved minutes. This team will really need him come conference play.

Courtesy: kusports.com

Kansas freshman Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk has been cold as of late. Myself along with every Jayhawk fan out there, have been waiting for Svi to get hot. This kid has so much talent, but its been in AWOL. That is until tonight. Mykhailiuk finally got a ball to drop around the 3 minute mark. Only to come back and nail 2 huge 3's back to back right before the end of the 1st half. This crowd had been praying for Mykhailiuk to get hot and man was he on fire. Kansas went into the locker room up 45-28 on the Leopards.

Being up 17 points to start off the 2nd half is a great Ace to have in your pocket. Its also a curse. The 2nd half started out much like the 1st half. Kinda stagnant and slow. Junior Perry Ellis finally popped the tab on his points for the game. Selden, Alexander and Oubre each had a bucket early, but Lafayette started to show some much needed life. Trist had 3 fast buckets and Lafayette figured out how to shoot. What was a 1st defensive lock down by the Jayhawks had turned into the dreaded "meltdowns." Kansas went cold and the Leopards went 7 for 9 before Kansas Head Coach Bill Self called for a time out. By then the damage had been done. Lafayette had chipped away at the lead bringing it down to 10. Two more missed shots by the Jayhawks and Lafayettes Matt Klinewski hitting another jumper had dropped the lead to now 8 points. Kansas needed something and needed it bad.

What Kansas needed, Brannen Greene gave with a huge 3! Greene never played a minute in the first half. Greene subed in after a timeout and gave Kansas fans much needed life. The Fieldhouse can get loud, but after that shot, it exploded. I've said it several times in the past, but this team is strange. One shot....one dunk....one block is all it takes to turn it around. Its what makes being a Kansas Jayhawk fan so worth it. Lafayette tried to answer with another 3 from Monty Boykins, but that was it for the Leopards. What was a mere 7 point lead by the Jayhawks had now become a 15 point comfortable edge on the Leopards.

Courtesy: kusports.com

Mickelson's 1st half performance must have impressed Self as he was seeing some good minutes in the 2nd half. Mickelson started to really shine. Picking up 2 quick buckets and 2 rebounds, Mickelson had stepped up and really impressed this crowd of 16,300. Between Mickelson, Junior Jamari Traylor and Mason owning the boards on both sides, Lafayette had to call for a time out to stop this momentum. As anyone should know, the Phog never stops. When this crowd gets pumped, they never stop. Neither did the Jayhawks. I really love seeing this crowd get behind their players like this. Mickelson has come a long way this season and he shined today.

Courtesy: kusports.com

The saying goes, "save the best for last", applies here. There were several individual efforts today that are worth mentioning, but none so much as Kelly Oubre Jr's. Oubre, riding on his first career start, was taking it to the bank. Oubre had 8 first half points. Until the 7 minute mark, he had only put up 3 more. That was about to change! Oubre rang in another three to set this crowd ablaze. Twitter completely lit up with every left handed joke imaginable. This kid has one of the most beautiful strokes this writer has ever seen. Ellis and Selden were adding to the beat down this team was giving the Leopards. Lafayette's last timeout had come at the 9:58 mark. Nothing was going to stop this momentum. Their next timeout came almost 4 minutes later. The Leopards had only put up 5 more points to the Jayhawks 13. If anything folks, this is a testament to the Kansas defense the Leopards were dealing with. Watching these young men cause Lafayette's offense to crumble, is a pleasure that can't be described. Nothing and I mean nothing can beat a good defense. By the time Oubre's damage was done, he had put up a team high 23 points and 10 rebounds. Toss in a steal, only 1 turnover and 1 foul and folks you have yourself one heck of a double-double night. Oubre's going to sleep well tonight!

If anything can be taken from todays game its this.....Each game, the Jayhawks are playing more and more like the team we have come to love so much. You look at Mason and Selden running the offense with a combined 15 assists, the entire team shooting 50% from the field. The list goes on folks. This team, in this writers opinion has finally come together. Sure, they are going to have some meltdowns, give us some heart attacks and give you that Forest Whitaker look, but a "team" they are and a "team" they are playing like. I love it!!!

The Jayhawks next match up is against the Temple Owls at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. Tip off is at 6pm central time and will be nationally televised on ESPN. The 7-4 owls will be the 11th matchup between these two teams. Kansas controls the series at 8-3. This is sure to be a tough road game for the Jayhawks and an even better game to watch!

!!!ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!