Jamal Shead paired 13 points with eight assists to spearhead a dominating performance as No. 1 Houston rolled to a 76-46 home victory over No. 14 Kansas in both teams’ regular-season finale.
The Cougars (28-3, 15-3 Big 12) secured the outright Big 12 regular-season title by extending their winning streak to nine games while also claiming their 22nd consecutive home win. Houston led wire to wire in earning the top seed at next week’s conference tournament.
Shead added six rebounds to his ledger while L.J. Cryer (11 points, four assists) and J’Wan Roberts (10 points, eight rebounds) contributed to the blowout. Damian Dunn tallied 12 points and six rebounds off the bench for Houston, which scored 30 points off 18 Kansas turnovers — a season-high total for the Jayhawks (22-9, 10-8).
Kevin McCullar Jr. logged 15 scoreless minutes in his return from a knee injury for the Jayhawks. He did not play in the second half. Hunter Dickinson had 11 points and six rebounds for Kansas before departing with a right shoulder injury midway through the second half.
Houston exacted a measure of revenge against the Jayhawks, who throttled the Cougars 78-65 in Lawrence, Kan., on Feb. 3. The rematch was equally lopsided, as the Cougars raced to a 19-4 lead by the 11:33 mark of the first half while the Jayhawks started 1-for-11 shooting from the floor.
Kansas never recovered. Dajuan Harris Jr. converted a layup with 10:04 left in the half to end an 0-for-10 Jayhawks drought. But Dunn drilled a 3-pointer following an offensive rebound by Shead that pushed Houston to a 29-9 lead. The Cougars extended that run to 10-0 en route to a 25-point lead.
The Jayhawks’ last show of life came with a 7-0 spurt that sliced the margin to 18 points but Houston still led 40-21 at the half.
Sharp sank two 3-pointers during an 11-0 run that enabled the Cougars to build their lead to 53-24 early in the second half. Shead had a three-point play during that rally, one that effectively ended all doubt.
Kansas finished the game shooting 33.3 percent from the field, its second-lowest percentage of the season.
–Field Level Media