The month of January ended the way it started for Kansas’ men’s basketball team … with a loss.
The No. 15 Jayhawks, who began the New Year with a 25-point home loss to Texas on Jan. 2, trailed by 16 points in the first half and 25 points midway through the second en route to an 80-61 defeat to No. 18 Tennessee, on Saturday in a SEC/Big 12 Challenge contest at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.
Yves Pons scored 10 points in the first half and finished with 17 for Tennessee. John Fulkerson added 11 points and six boards and Josiah-Jordan James grabbed 11 rebounds and scored nine points for the Volunteers, who hit 52.8% of their shots from the field to KU’s 37.7% and gained a bit of revenge on the Jayhawks who beat the Vols the last two seasons.
David McCormack scored 17 points and Marcus Garrett added 15 points for the Jayhawks (11-6), who finished the month with just three victories against five defeats. Jalen Wilson had 10 points and nine boards. Jaden Springer contributed 13 points for Tennessee.
KU defeated Tennessee, 74-68, in last year’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge at Allen Fieldhouse and also won, 87-81 in overtime, in the finals of the Preseason NIT on Nov. 23, 2018, in Brooklyn, New York.
KU coach Bill Self started Dajuan Harris in place of Wilson on Saturday. It was just the third time all season Self strayed from the opening lineup of Wilson, Garrett, McCormack, Ochai Agbaji (nine points, 3-of-12 shooting) and Christian Braun.
Harris picked up two early fouls and KU came out cold offensively as the Vols cruised to a 17-8 lead at 11:09. The Jayhawks missed 12 of their first 15 shots and went 0 for 7 on 3-pointers during that early span. Agbaji was 0 for 5, 0 for 4 from 3 as KU lagged by nine points.
Tennessee extended the lead to 11 points at 21-10 with 9:20 left in the half, the Jayhawks 4-of-18 shooting and 0 of 8 from 3.
The Vols, who were up 40-24 late in the first half, led 40-26 at halftime. KU missed 11 of 12 3s the first half and cashed 7 of 26 shots overall for 26.9%. Tennessee was 5 of 7 from 3 and hit 17 of 29 shots overall for 58.6%. Garrett and McCormack scored six for KU the first half. The Vols outrebounded KU 20-10 the first 20 minutes and 38-23 for the game.
The Jayhawks never cut the lead to single digits in the final half.
KU is now 4-2 all-time against Tennessee and 5-3 in the eight-year history of the Challenge. Since 2007, KU is 9-5 in conference challenges which includes battles against opponents from the SEC, Pac-12 and Big East.
The Jayhawks are set to return to conference play on Tuesday. KU is set to meet Kansas State at 7 p.m., at Allen Fieldhouse.
