Oakland University had its upset bid of the No. 1 ranked team in the country denied Wednesday night. OU traveled to Kansas and became the 44th straight team to lose to the Jayhawks (4-0) at Allen Fieldhouse, 89-59.
"Your margin for error when you play here is very small," said OU head coach Greg Kampe. "You have to make shots. Derick Nelson made some shots for us, (Keith) Benson did some nice things for us, but Johnathon Jones had a rough night."
Jones shot just 1-for-7 from the field and finished with nine points. He did have seven assists, which tied him with Bryce Drew for the all-time assists leader in the Summit League.
The game stayed within reach for much of the first half and the Golden Grizzlies (2-3) trailed by only 10, 26-16, with 6:42 remaining. Kansas then went on a 12-3 run and eventually pushed its lead to 37-22 at halftime.
Senior Derick Nelson set a career-high with a 4-for-5 performance from and beyond the arc and finished with 19 points. Junior Keith Benson also turned in an impressive performance, scoring a game-high 20 points and blocking four shots. Benson's defense limited Kansas big man Cole Aldrich to just four points on the night.
Yet, timely baskets and hot perimeter shooting did in the Golden Grizzlies. Kansas shot 53 percent from the field and made 7-of-12 3-pointers as a team. Marcus Morris and Xavier Henry each scored 19 points to lead the Jayhawks.
"I like the way we played," said Kampe. "We controlled the tempo in the first half, had the game where we wanted it, and then a freshman made a freshman mistake and raced up the floor and we shot a three. We missed, they raced up the floor and got a dunk, steal, then dunk and the lead went from seven to 14 points."
Oakland started the second half on a positive note, as Nelson hit a 3 from the top of the key followed by Larry Wright knocking one down from the corner to cut the deficit to 39-28, with 17:22 left in the game. Kansas responded by going on a 30-15 run over the next five-plus minutes to take a 26-point lead.
"We were trying to prevent that run from the outset of the game because we knew it was coming," Kampe said. "We did a nice job of slowing the game down but we missed some free throws and that really hurt us."
The Golden Grizzlies continued to battle back, as Nelson and Johnathon Jones made a pair a of 3-pointers, bringing the score to within 16 points, 71-55, with 5:27 left. Yet, Kansas responded again with another run and pushed its lead up to 30 points by the end of the game.
This was the second game of the Hall of Fame Showcase. Oakland will play the third and final game of the Showcase Saturday, Nov. 28 at home against Central Arkansas.
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