KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas' men's basketball team can now officially turn its full attention to Saturday's resumption of the Border War following Tuesday night's 78-52 victory over mid-major UTEP at T-Mobile Center.
Ochai Agbaji scored 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting and Christian Braun added 20 on 9-of-13 shooting with six rebounds as the No. 8-ranked Jayhawks (7-1) upended the Miners (4-4) in a game that preceded the long-awaited clash against the Missouri Tigers of the SEC. Tipoff will be 2:15 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.
David McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot scored eight apiece for KU, which now has won three straight games following its loss to Dayton on Nov 26 in the semifinals of the ESPN Events Invitational. Jalen Wilson had seven rebounds and three points.
Souley Boum scored 18 points and Keonte Kennedy 11 for the Miners, who dropped to 3-3 all-time versus KU.
Agbaji scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting while Braun had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting, McCormack eight points and Lightfoot six the first half as KU led, 42-21, at the break.
UTEP missed 13 of 14 threes and hit 9 of 30 shots overall (30%) compared to KU's 59.3% shooting for the half (2-of-8 from three). For the game, the Miners finished 3-of-23 shooting from three to KU's 6-of-20 mark. UTEP hit 31.1% from the field overall; the Jayhawks 53.6%.
KU led by as many as 27 points in the first half (40-13), however, the Miners did cut seven points off the lead. Boum had seven points on 2-of-10 shooting in the half (1-of-6 from three).
UTEP cut the deficit to under 20 points (47-28) with 15:35 left in the game. KU was up by 20 (59-39) at 7:39.
Missouri, which beat Eastern Illinois on Tuesday night, will take a 5-4 record into the game at KU.
