Oklahoma and Kansas gave college basketball fans a treat for 55 minutes on Monday night in front of an electric atmosphere at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks entered No. 1 in the AP Poll. The Sooners entered No. 1 in the Coaches Poll. Three overtimes later, Kansas won a 109-106 thriller that pushed coach Bill Self’s home record to 190-9 in Lawrence.
Kansas outlasts Oklahoma 109-106 in triple overtime instant classic
The best college basketball game of the season happened Monday night, and it lived up to every ounce of hype.
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Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
This was an instant classic in every sense. The teams combined to make 27 three-pointers, 38 assists and finished nearly the entire game without a player fouling out until Oklahoma’s Jordan Woodard picked up his fifth foul with 15 seconds left in the third overtime.
Kansas took the lead and iced the game with four clutch free throws down the stretch -- first from Devonte' Graham, then from Frank Mason III. Mason stole Oklahoma's inbounds pass with the Sooners down one with eight seconds left in the third OT to clinch the win.
The Jayhawks' balanced scoring effort was led by Perry Ellis, who scored 27 points and added 13 rebounds and three assists. He was one of four Kansas starters in double figures. Wayne Selden Jr. (21 points) and Graham (20 points, seven rebounds) were also huge for Kansas.
Selden’s three-pointer plus the foul in the third OT helped Kansas take control:
Senior star Buddy Hield was incredible for Oklahoma, pouring in a career-high 46 points to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists. Hield shot on 13-of-23 from the floor, 8-of-15 from three and 12-of-14 shooting from the foul line.
There was not much Kansas could do to stop him at the rim ....
Or from three-point range.
Oklahoma had the same five players on the floor for over 21 minutes straight until Woodard fouled out. Woodard was also terrific for the Sooners with 27 points and seven assists. Ryan Spangler (14 points, 18 rebounds) and Khadeem Lattin (10 points, 14 rebounds, six blocks) also played their hearts out for Oklahoma.
College basketball doesn’t get any better than this, but we’ll forgive the Sooners if they need a day or so of rest to join everyone else in that realization.
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