Until the Jayhawks game-ending flurry, neither team was able to get a lead of any size and the lead changed hands repeatedly. The Jayhawks got out of the gate strongly, hitting five of their first six shots and held a 13-8 lead after the first six minutes. But the Jayhawks then started to throw the ball away and take poor shots, the style that would dominate most of the rest of the game, and three minutes later the Jayhawks trailed 13-14. The Jayhawks quickly regained the lead and never relinquished it the rest of the half, but at the same time couldn’t extend it beyond four points.

At the half the Jayhawks led by only two points, 34-32, and the stat sheet was nearly identical for both teams except for one more Jayhawk fieldgoal.

The second half was more of the same until the last six minutes. The lead bounced back and forth between the teams, but neither team was able to get more than a four-point lead. The Jayhawks were unable to find any rhythm and killed many too many possessions with turnovers or poor shots. For the game, the Jayhawks turned the ball over 23 times.

The Jayhawks were led by their freshman power forwards, Drew Gooden and Nick Collison, both of whom scored 15 points and played excellent games. Gooden added 10 rebounds. Collison was 6-of-9 from the field and led the team in playing time with 28 minutes. Boschee also played an excellent game. He hit 3-of-5 three-pointers, including two in the key run at the end of the game, dished 5 assists and scoring 11 points.

Several other Jayhawks had very forgettable games, however, contributing to the Jayhawks’ inability to get in synch most of the night. Chenowith seemed asleep much of the game. He scored only 4 points and grabbed only 3 rebounds. He played 18 minutes, but only five of those came in the second half. With two minutes gone in the half Coach Williams replaced him with little-used Jeff Carey, and Chenowith didn’t return to the game until the ten-minute mark. He played another two minutes or so, and was pulled again and returned for only a few plays late in the game. Fortunately, Gooden and Collison more than took up the slack.

Luke Axtell also had an awful game. He was 1-of-6 from the field and played only 9 minutes. It looked as if he were trying to prove that he could get a shot off every time he touched the ball regardless of who was defending him, where he was on the floor or where his teammates were. Except for the two three-pointers he attempted, each of his shot attempts were poor, off balance shots.

Kirk Hinrich had a difficult game, as well. He forced a lot of bad passes, as he has the last several game. He didn’t attempt a shot in 13 minutes, committed 5 turnovers and didn't manage a single assist. He seems to be trying too hard to make something happen instead of letting the game come to him. That’s a typical freshman mistake, but one that he wasn’t falling victim to earlier in the season.

Kenny Gregory, Nick Bradford and Marlon London played more or less average games. Gregory scored 12 points, below his season average, and wasn’t as involved in the half-court offense as one would like to see him, but he made several key plays down the stretch and played solidly on defense. Bradford forced some bad passes at times, forced some tough shots but made up for that with tough defense and mostly heady play. London played one of his better games of the season, scoring 7 points, grabbing 6 boards and dishing 3 assists in 22 minutes.

Overall, this was a very forgettable game that will be recalled at all only because it was KU’s last game in the 1900s. Had the Jayhawks not woken up and pulled out the win it would have been a very memorable loss, a big step backwards at an inopportune time. As it was, it was an ugly win that hopefully was simply the result of post-holiday rust rather than any more long-term problem with the team. Chenowith’s continuing bouts of passivity and earth-bound attempts at rebounding are worrisome, though. The Jayhawks need Chenowith playing with passion to be a team with a reasonable shot at the Final Four.

Notes:

The Jayhawks have now won 12 straight games at Kemper Arena.

The Jayhawks finish the decade with the most wins and the best winning percentage of any Division I team.

Jeff Boschee continues to shoot three-pointers at a nearly 60% clip. He’s made 32 of 54 so far this season. He’s hit 12 three-pointers in the last three games.

Boschee’s streak of consecutive games with at least one three-pointer is now at 34.

Through 11 games, Boschee has reduced his turnovers by nearly two-thirds over last season. He had just 17 turnovers in the first 11 games this season. Last season, through 11 games, he committed 47 turnovers.

The Jayhawks haven’t played a game this year in which the final score was under 10 points.

The Jayhawks are 5-0 in the Sprint Shootout played annually in Kemper arena.

With two more wins, Kansas will join North Carolina and Kentucky as the only schools to earn 1,700 all-time victories.