LUBBOCK, Texas _ Josh Jackson's career-high 31-point outing helped Kansas claim an 80-79 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena. In the process, the Jayhawks maintained series domination of the Red Raiders.
Jackson hit 12 of 15 shots from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds on a day Frank Mason was slowed by illness and scored 12 points on 4 of 13 shooting. Landen Lucas contributed 13 points for KU, which won its 16th straight game over Tech and seventh in a row at United Supermarkets Arena.
The Jayhawks improved to 22-3 overall and 10-2 in the Big 12. Texas Tech, which was led by Keenan Evans (25 points), Niem Stevenson (22) and Zach Smith (21), fell to 16-9, 4-8.
The Jayhawks' winning point came when Jackson was fouled on a drive with 2.4 seconds left and made the second of two free throws, breaking a 79-79 tie.
Lucas and Jackson missed the front ends of 1-and-1s at 58 seconds and 38 seconds.
Mason, who was sick all week but practiced in days leading to the game, was limited to 26 minutes. He had just one point the first half in 13 minutes. He fouled out with 3:05 left and KU up, 75-72.
Jackson scored 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting the first half and grabbed six rebounds as KU led 42-35 at the break. Svi Mykhailiuk hit three of KU's six 3-pointers, good for nine points, while Lucas had nine the initial half.
Tech guard Evans, whose scoring high in a Big 12 game this season had been 20 points (twice vs. TCU), exploded for 17 points the first half, keeping Tech in the game. He hit 6 of 7 first-half shots, including two 3s in as many tries as the Red Raiders hit 51.9 percent of their first-half shots to KU's 48.4 percent.
KU used a 14-3 run to turn a 12-9 deficit into a 23-15 lead at 8:41. Lagerald Vick had five points, while Mykhailiuk and Devonte Graham had 3s in the run.
Mykhailiuk had three 3-pointers in a 16-8 surge that upped an 18-14 lead to 34-22 at 4:15. Tech called a timeout at that point and was able to whittle the deficit to 40-35 with 55 seconds to go, KU scoring the final points of the half on an inside by Carlton Bragg off a pass from Graham.
