KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Purdue's Caleb Swanigan got chatty with Landen Lucas early in the second half, and that was a time for the Boilermakers to feel confident. They cut a seven-point halftime deficit to four, then to three, and Swanigan's 3-pointer made it 53-51 with 16 { minutes remaining.
A few minutes later, Josh Jackson had the ball at the top of the key with Swanigan guarding him, stepped back and buried a 3-pointer.
This occurred on the possession after Lagerald Vick's breakaway 360 slam and a 98-66 rout few had expected was on.
Purdue entered the game as the Big Ten champion, by two games. The Boilers had taken down Iowa State in the second round. They had Kansas' attention.
The Jayhawks should have college basketball's attention after Thursday.
This turned into a remarkable display of skill and athleticism and stands with the most impressive KU victories of the season: Duke on a neutral floor, at Kentucky, Baylor twice, now this, a beatdown of the Big Ten champion that allowed Bill Self to clear his bench and for the many, many Kansas fans to go into the "Rock Chalk" chant with two minutes remaining.
The effort was thorough with both ends of the floor working together.
The game figured to be a battle between the Jayhawks' backcourt and Purdue's frontline, and as a sidebar, matching the two players who likely will seize most of the national player of the year awards, Kansas' Frank Mason and Swanigan.
If any vote remains uncounted, Mason should own it after this line: 26 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and two turnovers while resting for only a couple of minutes.
Devonte Graham was special again, finishing with 26, and if he lost his 3-point stroke for a couple of weeks in February, it's back. He's 13 of 22 beyond the arc for the tournament.
Swanigan, the Big Ten career leader in double doubles, fell short Thursday with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Purdue had to choose to play both bigs _ Swanigan and 7-2 Isaac Haas, or sit one and go smaller. Once the Boilers bigs got it low, especially Haas, he was nearly unstoppable.
All Lucas, Dwight Colbey, Carlton Bragg and Josh Jackson could do is get a body on them, or try to slap it away if Haas or Swanigan held it too long. Jackson was good here, coming up with three first-half steals.
So when Self wasn't shouting "What are we doing?" when he didn't like a shot attempt by one of his guys, he was directing ire at official Bill Covington, who had made some the calls against Kansas.
But Covington came through for the Jayhawks at the end of the half. After Purdue mishandled a pass, the ball was headed out of bounds, but it hit Covington while he was standing inbounds and bounded to Vick, who got it to Graham and got it back for the Jayhawks' first lob slam of the half and a seven-point lead.
KU was down eight early and started its first half comeback in the oddest way. Entry passes to Lucas brought a double team from the Purdue bigs. Lucas is valuable player, but the Boilermakers might have wanted to take their chances on Lucas, with an 8.2 scoring average, making a move to the basket.
Instead, Lucas, perhaps the Jayhawks' smartest player, knew when the double team came, someone was open.
The first time, it was Svi Mykhailiuk from the corner for the three-pointer that gave the Jayhawks their first lead at 36-35.
On the next possession, same thing. Entry pass to Lucas and a double team. This time, Lucas found Jackson, who had started in the corner and started making his way to the bucket. This assist led to the first half highlight, Jackson's slam that brought perhaps the loudest roar.
Until the second half, when things started getting out of hand and the Jayhawks finished off one of their most impressive NCAA Tournament victories.
