LEXINGTON, Ky. _ Back in high school, Josh Jackson became friends with Kentucky's four freshman starters on the AAU and all-star game circuits.
"They are great competitors. They really want to win. I knew neither side was going to give up no matter how much either team would be up or down. It was going to be a fight to the end," said Jackson, Kansas' freshman phenom from Detroit, after scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while playing 39 minutes in the second-ranked Jayhawks' 79-73 SEC/Big 12 Challenge victory over the No. 4 Wildcats on Saturday in front of 24,418 fans in Rupp Arena.
Jackson's back-to-back 3s to open the second half helped KU (19-2) erase a five-point halftime deficit on a night the Jayhawks trailed by as many as 12 points against a Kentucky team that starts frosh sensations Malik Monk (18 points, four rebounds), De'Aaron Fox (10 points, two assists, five turnovers), Edrice "Bam" Adebayo (10 points, eight rebounds) and Wenyen Gabriel (no points, two rebounds, 14 minutes).
Jackson's 3s "took the lid off" the basket, according to KU coach Bill Self, with his Jayhawks making 5 of 11 3-pointers during a final half in which KU outscored the Wildcats(17-4) 52-41. KU was 0-of-8 on 3s in the first half.
"We were pretty good after that," Self said of KU's performance after Jackson's pair of 3s.
This one was decided by an 11-0 KU run that turned a 59-58 deficit into a 69-59 Jayhawk lead with 4:41 left
Jackson, who had 10 rebounds, opened that surge with an inside tip. It was followed by a Frank Mason 3, then buckets by Landen Lucas, Devonte Graham, and Lucas again.
Mason had 21 points, Lucas scored 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting and added five rebounds, and Graham had 12 points.
"It's very satisfying to win," Self said. "I told our team this, prepping for the game, 'This is an important game, but not as important as our game Wednesday (against Baylor at Allen Fieldhouse), not as important as our game Tuesday (an 85-69 loss at West Virginia).
"If you ever go to an AAU Tournament, it's kind of like the showcase game. Showcase games (in AAU tournaments) ... win or lose, no big deal. It doesn't affect the bracket. It affects fans of both schools, tradition is on the line."
He made it clear conference victories are more important than the SEC/Big 12 Challenge contests, even ones that match the two teams _ Kentucky and UK _ with the most wins in college hoops history. KU also beat Kentucky in last year's challenge at Allen Fieldhouse.
"We showed extreme upper-class leadership tonight," Self said. "I thought we played pretty tough. I thought Frank and Devonte were great, and Josh plays much older than his years. Svi (Mykhailiuk, who had eight points) and Landen I thought played with pretty good poise down the stretch, really good."
Then there's freshman Jackson, who had 10 points, four rebounds and two steals in the first half as KU trailed 32-27 at the break.
"He's made eight (threes) his last three games. That's an area he's getting better," Self said. "If he makes shots, you've got to guard him.
"That (three-point shooting) is something he's worked hard on," Self added after Jackson hit 2 of 5 3s on a night KU hit 50 percent of its shots, and went 5 of 19 on 3s. "He got his hands on loose balls, rebounded, got a great offensive putback (to give KU 60-59 lead at 7:11; KU did not trail again).
"He is a complete basketball player. He is one of the few guys out there that can do a lot of everything."
Jackson said a key was Self using not only a man-to-man defense, but a 2-3 zone and a triangle-and-two.
"Coming into the game we knew there'd be a point in time we'd be down and trying to come back," Jackson said. "We knew they were going to go on a run. We had to keep believing in each other, never stop fighting. We were down 12 at one time (actually three junctures at 23-11, 25-13 and 29-17 in the first half). Switching defenses I think threw them off a bit. I think it helped a lot."
Self explained: "Being able to shadow Malik and eliminate him scoring off screens ... there will not be any educational tapes on that zone tonight. I do think we shaded shooters and did a good job with it. We would not have won the game unless we switched up."
KU won on a night the Jayhawks made 10 of 18 free throws to Kentucky's 13 of 22. KU was outrebounded 35-34.
The Jayhawks, who were without the suspended Carlton Bragg, received a boost from seldom-used big man Dwight Coleby, who had three points and a rebound in 10 minutes. Freshman Mitch Lightfoot played 4 minutes.
"Dwight and Mitch gave us enough bodies to kind of lay on Bam," Self said of Adebayo, who had eight boards and four turnovers in 37 minutes.
