SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Kansas junior Devonte’s Graham has been named one of 20 candidates for the 2017 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday.

Named after Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player Jerry West, the annual honor in its third year recognizes the top shooting guards in Division I men’s college basketball. A national committee comprised of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates.

Graham is one of three returning starters for Kansas, joining backcourt teammate Frank Mason III and senior forward Landen Lucas. On Monday, Oct., 17, Mason was named one of 20 for the 2017 Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year watch list, also by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

From Raleigh, North Carolina, Graham was a 2016 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and joined Mason on the five-person the Big 12 All-Defensive Team. Graham averaged 11.3 points per game and was the team leader in steals with 1.4 per contest. His points ranked 19th in the conference and his steal average was 10th. Additionally, Graham was sixth in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.2 and third in 3-point field goal percentage at 44.1 percent.

Graham was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2016 Big 12 Championship where he averaged 17.3 points and 6.3 assists in leading Kansas to the title. He was also a member of the NCAA Tournament All-South Region Team as KU advanced to the Elite Eight.

By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2017 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award will be narrowed to 10. In March, five finalists will be presented to Mr. West and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner of the 2017 Jerry West Award will be presented at the ESPN College Basketball Awards Show in Los Angeles on Friday, April 7, 2017.

— KU Athletics —

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas junior punter Cole Moos averaged 50.4 yards per punt in the Jayhawks’ game at Baylor Saturday, Oct. 15, on his way to earning Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors, the conference office announced Monday morning.

Moos, a native of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, punted eight times for a total of 403 yards. Four of his punts reached further than 50 yards, including an 82-yarder on his first boot of the day. Moos’ 82-yard punt tied for the fifth-longest in KU history and was the longest punt for a Jayhawk since Curtis Ansel hit an 82-yarder at UNLV on Sept. 7, 2002.

Moos also recorded a 73-yard punt in the third quarter on his way to a 50.4 average on the afternoon, the first 50-plus game average for a KU player since Trevor Pardula averaged 51.8 yards on eight punts at Duke in 2014 (Sept. 4).

Moos is the first Jayhawk to win a conference weekly award since cornerback Dexter McDonald took home the Defensive Player of the Week Award following on Sept. 8, 2014. Pardula was the last KU player to snag a Special Teams Player of the Week Award for KU as he was the winner on Sept. 23, 2013.

Kansas will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 22, when it plays host to Oklahoma State for Homecoming. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m.

— KU Athletics —

WACO, Tex. (AP) – Cornerback Ryan Reid and No. 11 Baylor will enjoy their upcoming open date a little more than the last one.

Reid returned the first of his two interceptions 64 yards for a touchdown , quarterback Seth Russell accounted for four touchdowns playing only a half, and Shock Linwood earned the school record for career rushing touchdowns in the Bears’ 49-7 win over Kansas on Saturday.

“We were just trying to make a statement. A lot of people they thought that Iowa State game, that’s who we are, which it’s not,” Reid said, referring to a 45-42 win two weeks ago in the last game when Baylor’s only lead came on a game-ending field goal. “We had to make a statement with our next game, and Kansas was in the way.”

Baylor (6-0, 3-0 Big 12), which now has another open date, led 42-0 after Russell’s last pass, a 4-yard TD to Ishmael Zamora with 1:45 left in the first half. KD Cannon, who missed the last game with a groin injury, turned a short pass into a 59-yard score.

A week after almost beating TCU at home, Kansas (1-5, 0-3) had five turnovers that led to 21 points for the Bears. The Jayhawks have lost 15 Big 12 games in a row, and dropped 36 consecutive road games since winning at UTEP seven years ago.

“We made some strides last week, and then today we took several steps back. That’s my responsibility,” second-year Kansas coach David Beaty said of the Jayhawks offense, which had only 217 total yards.

Russell had two touchdown runs in the first quarter, with Reid’s TD return coming between those.

Now 14-0 when starting for Baylor, Russell was 9-of-22 passing for 144 yards. He led the Bears with 68 yards rushing, and got flipped after he leaped in the end zone for a 26-yard TD when converting a fourth-and-3 to make it 21-0 in the first quarter

Linwood’s 4-yard score on the first play after a Kansas fumble was his 36th career rushing touchdown and broke a tie with Alfred Anderson for the most in school history. Linwood was already the career rushing leader for the Bears.

Reid returned his second pick 52 yards to the Jayhawks 19, but Baylor then had the first of its three missed field goals.

THE TAKEAWAY

Kansas: It’s not a good day when the highlight is the 82-yard punt by Cole Moos , who had the wind to his back and had the ball roll to the Baylor 3 after a great bounce off the turf. Sure, the Jayhawks were five-touchdown underdogs, but this was a bit of a backward step. They were also big underdogs a week in the one-point loss to TCU when they missed three field goals in the fourth quarter.

Baylor: While already bowl eligible for the seventh consecutive season, and the only FBS team to be 6-0 for the fourth year in a row, the Bears haven’t really been tested. Their only opponent with a winning record they’ve played is Oklahoma State, which had two fourth-quarter drives end inside the 5. The other opponents went into Saturday with a combined 5-22 record, and that doesn’t include Kansas’ latest loss. The Bears will get tested, still with No. 19 Oklahoma and No. 20 West Virginia on the road.

“We know that the lion’s share of our schedule lies in front of us, and the toughest part is the second half,” acting head coach Jim Grobe said. “Our guys realize that we’re happy to be 6-0 right now, but we know positively that we’re going to have to play great down the stretch.”

BLANK FINISHES

Baylor still hasn’t allowed a point in the fourth quarter this season. The Bears didn’t score either in the final 15 minutes Saturday, but have a 45-0 edge in that quarter this season.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Depending on how voters judge the losers of two games matching Top 10 teams, far-from-proven Baylor could move up into the Top 10 for the first time this season. The Big 12 hasn’t had a Top 10 team since Oklahoma was third in the preseason poll, then dropped 10 spots after a season-opening loss at Houston.

UP NEXT

Kansas: Plays four of its next five games at home, starting next Saturday against Oklahoma St.

Baylor: Another open date before playing at Texas on Oct. 29.

— Associated Press —

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — After two years of close calls and dashing dreams against Kansas, the TCU Horned Frogs found themselves in another tight game with the Jayhawks.

In the 2014 and 2015 matchups between the two conference foes, the games were decided by 10 points combined.

The pattern continued Saturday when TCU (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) outlasted Kansas 24-23.

“KU has always played us hard,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “… I’m going to do a better job of changing my signals. I thought (defensive coordinator) Coach (Clint) Bowen and the defensive group did a great job. It’s been three years he’s done a good job on us.”

One of the things different this time was that TCU wasn’t ranked.

Kenny Hill completed 17 of 32 passes for 206 yards with one touchdown pass and one rushing score to help TCU squeak out its fourth win of the season.

Kansas took a 23-14 lead late in the third quarter on Ryan Willis’ 21-yard run. But TCU answered early in the fourth.

On third-and-12 in its own territory, Hill scrambled and fumbled, but he picked it up and darted around the field for a gain of 34 yards. A facemask penalty added 15 extra yards to put TCU in scoring position.

“Fortunately for us, we had one of those plays last week against us,” Patterson said. “Usually, if you win those plays, a lot of times you have the chance to win the ballgame.”

Two plays later, Hill connected with Jaelan Austin for the touchdown to put the Horned Frogs within 23-21.

Kansas had two good scoring chances in the fourth quarter, but went wide right and wide left on two field-goal opportunities.

With under four minutes remaining, TCU pieced together a 59-yard drive to tack on a field goal to take the lead at 24-23.

Kansas had 81 seconds to make something happen.

Willis was sacked on back-to-back plays to put Kansas in a tough spot at third-and-23 on the Kansas 30-yard line. Willis avoided getting sacked for a third straight down and ran the ball out of bounds. On fourth down, Willis threw the ball to Sims, who lateraled it to Bobby Hartzog. Kansas had the first down and was in TCU territory.

But Matthew Wyman missed a 54-yard field goal.

“Sometimes things don’t fall your way and you gotta bounce back,” Willis said.

After losing three games to TCU over the past three seasons by a combined 11 points, it’d be easy for minds to wander.

“There’s a lot of `ifs’ and `buts’ but those don’t matter,” Kansas coach David Beaty said. “We have to go to school before next week with more Big 12 play.”

Kyle Hicks carried the ball 18 times for 104 yards and one touchdown for TCU. Hill threw three interceptions.

Willis was 31 of 45 for 348 yards with three interceptions for Kansas, LaQuvionte Gonzalez had 131 yards receiving and Steven Sims added 101 yards receiving.

STAT LINES

KANSAS: Under Beaty, the Jayhawks are 1-16 and are still awaiting their first conference victory.

TCU: The Horned Frogs have scored in 299 consecutive games, the second-longest current streak in the nation, dating to Nov. 16, 1991.

TAKEAWAYS

TCU: Hill’s three picks tied a career high.

KANSAS: The Jayhawks have 17 turnovers through five games.

UP NEXT

TCU: After a bye week, the Horned Frogs play at West Virginia on Oct. 22.

Kansas: Plays at Baylor next Saturday.

— Associated Press —

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Ohio’s Greg Windham played like a fifth-year senior rather than a quarterback making just his second career start, though Kansas certainly did everything it could to help him out.

Two fumbled punt returns. Inopportune penalties. An interception. A safety.

The result was a 37-21 victory for the Bobcats on Saturday that went a long way toward erasing the memory of a triple-overtime defeat to Texas State in their season opener.

“I’m proud of our guys the way they came back,” Ohio coach Frank Solich said. “I thought it showed our resolve. They practiced well this past week. I think the signs were there that they were going to have an opportunity to play well, and to play to our potential hopefully.”

Windham threw for 167 yards and a touchdown while running for 146 and another score. Dorian Brown added 122 yards rushing, Louie Zervos was 5-for-5 on field goals, and Papi White and Mason Morgan scored against a Kansas team coming off its first win in more than a year.

LaQuvionte Gonzalez had a 99-yard kickoff return for the Jayhawks (1-1), but he also muffed those two punt returns. Montell Cozart threw for 198 yards and hit Steven Sims Jr. for a pair of TDs, but the dual-threat quarterback also struggled to deal with constant pressure.

“Offensively we have to do a better job early in the game to help our defense out,” Kansas coach David Beaty said. “The defense, every time I looked up, they were out there.”

The Bobcats blitzed to a 25-0 lead and led 28-7 after a first half as lopsided as they come: They had a 359-21 edge in offense, 18 first downs to one, and controlled the ball for 22 minutes, 56 seconds.

“We just couldn’t get off the field,” Jayhawks safety Fish Smithson said. “It doesn’t matter how long we were out there, we still have to get stops.”

The Jayhawks still managed to make it interesting.

Cozart connected with Sims on a 74-yard touchdown pass on the second play out of the locker room, and then hit Sims from 22 yards out a few minutes later to trim a 28-7 halftime lead to 31-21.

But an Ohio defense that allowed 630 yards to Texas State held the Jayhawks to three straight punts, deflating a crowd that began to dwindle. And Windham showed the poise of a fifth-year senior rather than a quarterback making his second career start, scrambling for a crucial first down midway through the fourth quarter that kept the clock moving and the Kansas offense on the sideline.

“I feel like we have a run game,” Solich said, “and if you have a run game you have a chance.”

The outcome at Memorial Stadium was nothing new for Solich, who went 6-0 against the Jayhawks when he was with former Big 12 rival Nebraska. But it was all-too-familiar for Beaty, who hoped to build on a win over Rhode Island last week that ended the Jayhawks’ 15-game losing streak.

“We are still in that process of building this program,” he said. “We’ve talked to them until we’re blue in the face, one win doesn’t make you special. You have to go back to what got you there.”

STAT DISPARITY

Ohio had the ball for 43:38 while Kansas had it for 13:56, a massive disparity in time of possession. The Bobcats also went 6 for 7 in the red zone while the Jayhawks failed to drive inside the 20.

JAYHAWKS’ HURT WING

Cozart took a shot along the sideline late in the game, hurting his shoulder. Cozart said he could have returned to the game while Beaty said he was being cautious by turning to Ryan Willis. “I didn’t want to take a chance on it,” Beaty said, “because I saw the way he fell.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Ohio: The Bobcats ran for 329 yards without top running back A.J. Ouellette, who hurt his foot the previous week. He was on crutches when the captains went on the field for the coin toss.

Kansas: The Jayhawks were 0 for 8 on third down, failed to pick up both fourth downs, which in turn kept their defense on the field far too long. They were ultimately gassed by the fourth quarter.

UP NEXT

Ohio: Tries to beat another power-five opponent when it visits Tennessee on Saturday.

Kansas: Heads to Memphis on Saturday to face a team that beat the Jayhawks 55-23 a year ago.

— Associated Press —

The fifth annual Armed Forces Classic – a men’s college basketball doubleheader to be played Friday, Nov. 11 – will be staged at the Stan Sheriff Center on the University of Hawaii campus in Honolulu, ESPN announced Thursday. Kansas will face Indiana at 8 p.m. (Central), 4 p.m. (HT) in the second game of the doubleheader.

The event was originally scheduled to take place at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, but has been relocated to provide basketball fans of both the military and the community an opportunity to see the games up close.

The 2016 Armed Forces Classic will be held on Veterans Day – just under a month from the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Arizona will play Michigan State at 6 p.m. CT (2 p.m. HT) followed by the Kansas-Indiana contest.

The games will be televised on ESPN as part of the network’s America’s Heroes: A Salute to Our Veterans initiative honoring the men and women who are serving and who have served in the United States military, both at home and abroad.

Kansas has won six of the last seven meetings with Indiana but the Hoosiers lead the overall series 7-6. KU and IU last met in 1995 in Kansas City with the Jayhawks claiming a 91-83 victory on Dec. 16. This series dates back to 1940 with the first two meetings, both IU wins, in the NCAA title game in 1940 and 1953.

Previous Armed Forces Classic games have been played from Ramstein, Germany in 2012 (Connecticut vs. Michigan State), Pyongtaek, South Korea in 2013 (Georgetown vs. Oregon), Aguadilla, Puerto Rico in 2014 (Louisville vs. Minnesota) and Okinawa, Japan in 2015 (Gonzaga vs. Pittsburgh).

— KU Athletics —

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Montell Cozart threw three touchdown passes, Ryan Willis tossed two more and Kansas gave second-year coach David Beaty his first victory by routing overmatched Rhode Island 55-6 on Saturday night.

Third-string quarterback Carter Stanley also threw a TD pass, LaQuvionte Gonzalez caught seven passes for 78 yards and a touchdown, and Taylor Martin and Ke’aun Kinner ran for scores as the Jayhawks (1-0) won for the first time since beating Iowa State on Nov. 8, 2014, a span of 665 days.

They went 0-12 for the first time in school history last season.

“I’ve never been through what we went through last year. That’s hard,” Beaty said. “Personally it is very difficult. I got emotional with those guys. It’s just hard. So obviously I’m overjoyed for them.”

The Rams (0-1) were held to 219 yards of offense by a Kansas defense that gave up at least 40 points eight times last season. Wes McKoy was 6 of 29 for 43 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Rhode Island has never beaten a school from the Football Bowl Subdivision in 14 tries.

“There were some ugly things that happened out there and we’ll try to find the positives out of it and see where it goes from here,” Rhode Island coach Jim Fleming said. “We played very poorly for what we’re capable of and as a result, we got spanked a little bit.”

Beaty has been slowing trying to rebuild the downtrodden Jayhawks, and there was little evidence of progress last season. But an infusion of touted freshmen and high-profile transfers — Gonzalez came from Texas A&M, for example — gave a sparse season-opening crowd reason to be optimistic.

Kansas scored its most points since routing Nebraska 76-39 on Nov. 3, 2007, when Mark Mangino was still roaming the sideline. The Jayhawks are on their fourth head coach since then.

“Our fans deserve it,” Beaty said. “They deserve a lot.”

The big question surrounding them Saturday night was who would be under center.

Cozart was the starter before a season-ending injury a year ago, and Willis took over the rest of the way. The two battled until the final week of training camp and Cozart won the right to take the first snaps of the game, though both played a significant amount of time.

Cozart wound up going 18 of 25 for 199 yards, while Willis was 7 of 9 for 144 yards.

Still, there were times they looked like the same old Jayhawks.

Late in the first half, Kansas failed to convert third down, got called for illegal substitution and missed a field-goal attempt. Cozart threw a pick in the end zone midway through the third quarter, while Derrick Neal botched a punt return midway through the fourth quarter.

But for the most part, it was easy to look good against the Rams.

The Football Championship Subdivision bottom-dweller also muffed a punt that led to the Jayhawks’ first touchdown, then had their only extra-point attempt blocked in the second quarter.

THE TAKEAWAY

Rhode Island: The Rams’ chances were ruined in part by three turnovers, including a pair of fumbles that were recovered by the Jayhawks. Both of them turned into eventual touchdowns.

Kansas: Gonzalez has star potential. The speedy wide receiver had to sit out last season under NCAA transfer rules, so he was playing in his first game since Dec. 29, 2014.

UP NEXT

Rhode Island: Plays its home opener against Albany next Saturday.

Kansas: Ohio visits Memorial Stadium next Saturday.

— Associated Press —