SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Four University of Kansas men’s basketball players have been named to various position-based preseason award watch lists, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday. There are 20 NCAA Division I student-athletes listed per award.

KU forward Perry Ellis is on the Karl Malone Award Watch List for the nation’s top power forward, while Frank Mason III is on the Bob Cousy Award Watch List for the nation’s top point guard. The Jayhawk tandem of Wayne Selden Jr., and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk are on the Julius Erving Award Watch List for the top small forward in the country.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame oversees a total of five awards named after legendary hall-of-famers at each position – point guard (Cousy), shooting guard (Jerry West), small forward (Erving), power forward (Malone), and center (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Watch List will be announced on Friday.

Each award will be narrowed down to 10 in mid-February and five finalists will be selected in March. The award winners will be named April 8, 2016, at ESPN College Basketball Awards Show.

One of five finalists for the inaugural Karl Malone Award last season, Ellis was the only player in the Big 12 to rank in the top seven in scoring (seventh at 13.8), field goal percentage (seventh at 45.7) and rebounding (fourth at 6.9) in 2014-15. A two-time Academic All-Big 12 honoree from Wichita, Kansas, Ellis is on pace to rank in the top 15 on Kansas’ career points and career rebounds and could become just the eighth Jayhawk to accomplish the feat.

Like the Karl Malone Award, this is the second year of the Julius Erving Award. Selden has started all 71 games played at Kansas and averaged 9.4 points last season. The Roxbury, Massachusetts guard led the Jayhawks with 46 three-pointers made and was second in assists with 95. His 2.6 assists per game 12th in the Big 12. This past summer, Selden was the second overall leading scorer at the World University Games with a 19.3 average in leading USA to the gold medal.

Mykhailiuk started six games last season for Kansas and averaged 11.2 minutes and 2.8 points per contest. A three-point threat when on the floor, 15 of the Cherkasy, Ukraine native’s 26 field goals made last season were from beyond the arc.

Mason, from Petersburg, Virginia, ranked ninth in the Big 12, second on the KU team, in scoring at 12.6 points per game and he was also among the league leaders in assists (fifth at 3.9), steals (ninth at 1.4), free throw percentage (ninth at 78.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (fifth at 1.9). Like Selden, Mason was a main cog in the World University Games gold medal run as he averaged 14.5 points in the eight victories. The Bob Cousy Award began in 2004 and former KU men’s basketball players Russell Robinson, Sherron Collins and Tyshawn Taylor were each named finalists for the honor.

— KU Athletics —

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Seth Russell wanted to keep playing. So did Corey Coleman and Shock Linwood.

Baylor coach Art Briles is certain they’ll see more of the field in the coming weeks.

Russell tossed three touchdown passes, two of them to Coleman, and Linwood ran for 135 yards and a score as third-ranked Baylor romped to 66-7 victory over Kansas on Saturday.

All three stars sat the entire second half, resting for what Baylor (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) hopes is a national title push. They’ve blown out every opponent so far, but still have a tough road ahead, including Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU in consecutive weeks to finish the regular season.

“I feel like we have one of the freshest football teams in America at this point,” Briles said. “They’re going to like playing full games here in a few weeks.”

Russell threw for 246 yards in his two quarters. Two of his TD strikes went to Coleman, pushing his nation-leading total to 13, and the other went to 6-foot-7, 410-pound tight end LaQuan McGowan as the Bears roared to a 52-7 halftime lead.

It was the seventh straight Big 12 win for Baylor, and one that was hardly unexpected: The Jayhawks (0-5, 0-2) were 46-point underdogs, a record for a visiting team in Big 12 play.

Turns out the odds-makers were being kind.

“You definitely want to play the whole game, but it’s great for our young guys. They got a lot of experience,” Russell said. “Experience is valuable, especially at this stage, this level.”

Kansas freshman Ryan Willis got a bit of it. He threw for 158 yards and a score in his first start, but he also tossed a pick and lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.

The Jayhawks’ top two quarterbacks, Montell Cozart and Deondre Ford, are both hurt. So were their top two wide receivers, Bobby Hartzog Jr. and Tre Parmalee. Brandon Stewart, their best cover cornerback, left with a groin injury early in the game.

Not exactly the way to face one of the nation’s most dynamic teams.

The Bears piled up 644 yards, a total that could have been even larger had the backups not played the second half. Second-string quarterback Jarrett Stidham was 9 of 10 for 217 yards and two touchdowns, while Johnny Jefferson ran for 79 yards and another score.

Baylor didn’t have to punt until there was 5 minutes left in the game.

“You’ve got to stop those guys when you get the chance,” Kansas coach David Beaty said.

With fall break going on at Kansas, and Late Night at the Phog having kept Jayhawks basketball fans up Friday night, there were more empty seats than full ones Saturday.

That might have been a good thing.

There weren’t many people around to see the rout.

The quick-strike Bears scored on every possession of the first half except their last, and that was only because they ran out of time. Their first three touchdown drives all went more than 70 yards, yet none of their scoring drives required more than 3 minutes, 14 seconds.

Russell was 18-of-27 passing and ran for a score. Linwood, the nation’s fifth-leading rusher, averaged more than 10 yards per carry. Coleman had seven receptions for 108 yards.

Even the Baylor defense got into the act, stripping Willis late in the first half. Xavien Howard picked up the fumble and scampered down the Kansas sideline 30 yards for a touchdown.

“When you have guys that are old, which we have a lot of those guys — fourth- and fifth-year guys at critical positions — when those guys are sharp and mentally right and focused and are ready to compete at a high level, you’re going to be all right,” Briles said.

The only bright spot for Kansas came on its opening series. Willis converted a long third down with a pretty pass to Jeremiah Booker then hit Steven Sims with a 36-yard touchdown pass.

“You don’t like to lose,” Jayhawks tight end Kent Taylor said. “I don’t know if it’s possible to completely block (the score) out in your head. You have to keep making strides, no matter what the score is.”

— Associated Press —

IRVING, Texas – Kansas senior forward Perry Ellis, junior guard Frank Mason III, and freshman forward Cheick Diallo each garnered recognition on the 2015-16 All-Big 12 Preseason Team as voted on by the league’s men’s basketball coaches, the conference office announced Thursday.

Ellis is on the five-member All-Big 12 Preseason Team, while Mason is an honorable mention selection as the recipient of at least one vote by the league’s coaches who could not vote for their own student-athlete. Diallo was voted as KU’s third-straight Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year.

Ellis, a unanimous selection, is one of four 2015 All-Big 12 First Team selections named to the all-conference preseason team. He is joined on the preseason team by Buddy Hield of Oklahoma, Rico Gathers of Baylor, Georges Niang of Iowa State and Isaiah Taylor of Texas. Hield, Gathers and Niang, along with Ellis, were all-league first-team honorees last year. Hield, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, was the coaches’ preseason player of the year selection, while Iowa State junior Deonte Burton is the preseason newcomer of the year.

A two-time Academic All-Big 12 honoree from Wichita, Kansas, Ellis was the only player in the Big 12 last season to rank in the top seven in scoring (seventh at 13.8), field goal percentage (seventh at 45.7) and rebounding (fourth at 6.9).

Ellis is appearing on the preseason all-league team for the second straight season. This marks the 10th-consecutive year at least one Jayhawk has appeared on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team. Heading into the 20th season of the Big 12 Conference, beginning in 1996-97, KU has had an all-time best 28 preseason all-league honorees.

Mason, from Petersburg, Virginia, ranked ninth in the Big 12 in scoring at 12.6 points per game and he was also among the league leaders in assists (fifth at 3.9), steals (ninth at 1.4), free throw percentage (ninth at 78.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (fifth at 1.9).

Diallo, the 2015 McDonald’s All American Game Most Valuable Player, enters his first year at Kansas after being listed on almost every high school All-America squad last spring as a senior at Our Savior New American High School in New York. The Kayes, Mali, Africa, native averaged 17.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game during his senior campaign.

Diallo is the third-straight Jayhawk to be named preseason freshman of the year joining Cliff Alexander last season, and Andrew Wiggins in 2013-14. KU has had seven Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year selections starting with Nick Collison in 1999-2000.

Big 12 Preseason Honors
Preseason Player of the Year – Buddy Hield (Oklahoma)
Preseason Newcomer of the Year – Deonte Burton (Iowa State)
Preseason Freshman of the Year – Cheick Diallo (KANSAS)

Preseason All-Big 12 Team
Rico Gathers (Baylor)
Georges Niang* (Iowa State)
Perry Ellis* (Kansas)
Buddy Hield* (Oklahoma)
Isaiah Taylor (Texas)

Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Taurean Prince (Baylor)
Jameel McKay (Iowa State)
Monte Morris (Iowa State)
Frank Mason III (Kansas)
Phil Forte (Oklahoma State)
Devin Williams (West Virginia)

* – Unanimous Selection

The All-Big 12 Preseason Team is selected by the conference coaches, who could not vote for their own student-athletes.

— KU Athletics —

University of Kansas freshman quarterback Ryan Willis will make his first career start this Saturday as injuries have sideline the top two Jayhawk quarterbacks.

KU announced on Monday that starting quarterback Montell Cozart is “out indefinitely” with a left shoulder sprain, while backup Deondre Ford will miss the rest of the regular season after suffering torn ligaments in his throwing hand.

Willis, a true freshman from Bishop Miege High School in Overland Park, will start against No. 3 Baylor at Memorial Stadium.  The Jayhawks are 41-point underdogs to the Bears.

Cozart was injured in last Saturday’s 38-13 loss at Iowa State, while Ford went down the week before at Rutgers. The Jayhawks are already without the services of senior quarterback Michael Cummings, who tore an ACL during the spring game in April and is unlikely to return this season.

Willis completed 8-of-16 passes for 100 yards while playing in a relief role last Saturday.  Kansas is 0-4 and they’ll kickoff with Baylor this Saturday at 11:00 a.m. in Lawrence.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s State 13-year drought in Big 12 openers is finished, thanks partly to a Kansas team that’s likely in for a long league season.

Mike Warren set an Iowa State freshman record with 175 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and the Cyclones throttled Kansas 38-13 Saturday to begin conference play.

Sam Richardson threw for 269 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Cyclones (2-2, 1-0 Big 12). They notched their most lopsided win since blowing out the Jayhawks 34-0 in 2013.

“You’ve got to find ways to win. The little things are the ways to win,” said Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads, whose team had five sacks and was also penalized just twice for 10 yards. “We were aggressive in our tackling. Thirty-eight points … in this league you’ve got to score and we went out and scored.”

Iowa State stretched its lead to 24-0 early in the second half on Warren’s 62-yard TD run, the longest of his career. Warren’s 7-yard score with 11:34 left was the capper on the best day of his young career.

Montell Cozart was 15-of-21 passing for 150 yards before leaving with a sprained left shoulder. Kansas coach David Beaty said the Jayhawks won’t know more about Cozart’s status until they return to Lawrence.

Marcquis Roberts had an 83-yard interception return for a score for Kansas (0-4, 0-1).

“Those kids are not happy about what took place. But at the same time, our job is to make them look themselves in the mirror each day and try to understand that there’s a reason it happened and you’ve got to get better at it,” Beaty said.

There was plenty of talk this week that this game might be the worst Power Five matchup of the year.

For much of the first half, it didn’t disappoint.

Iowa State’s offense couldn’t get out of its own way in the early going, scoring just three points in the opening 24 minutes. But Richardson broke the drought on a 4-yard TD run through a hole that, thanks to a little misdirection and an over-aggressive Kansas defense, was at least 15 yards wide.

The Jayhawks then jumped offside on a crucial third-and-3 on their own 14, giving the Cyclones a fresh set of downs. They only needed one, as Richardson found Allen Lazard for a 9-yard touchdown and a 17-0 lead.

Warren followed with his long touchdown run — a play on which he was never touched until his teammates met him the end zone — to make it 24-0.

Warren needed just 18 carries to match the best day by an Iowa State back since Ryan Koch had 175 yards against Missouri in 2006.

“Just patience,” Warren said. “Everything will play out and if you see it, hit it at 100 miles an hour.”

Kansas finally got on the board when Cozart found Tre Parmalee for a 47-yard TD pass.

But the point-after try bounced off the upright.

The subsequent kickoff bounced out of bounds — and Parmalee muffed a punt that Iowa State recovered midway through the fourth quarter.

“That was not something you felt good about,” Beaty said about losing momentum by missing the extra point. “Man that was tough to see.”

Kansas also ran for just 38 yards.

The Jayhawks next host Baylor as potentially one of the largest home underdogs in recent memory.

— Associated Press —

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self announced Wednesday forward Dwight Coleby tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee and will miss the 2015-16 season.

“Dwight tore his ACL last Friday (Sept. 25) during a light team workout,” Self said. “It was a non-contact injury that was unfortunate for him, particularly because he came here this year to practice against our guys and get better. Even though it is a setback for him, through hard work, he’ll come back and he’ll be stronger than he ever has been by this time next year.”

Self said Coleby will have surgery on the ACL the week of Oct. 11 to give the knee the opportunity for swelling to go down between now and then.

“This is my first knee injury and I will do everything I can to get back to 100 percent,” Coleby said. “I have had great support from everyone since this happened and look forward to getting back as soon as possible.”

A Nassau, Bahamas, native, Coleby (6-9, 240) played in all 34 games for Ole Miss in 2014-15, including three starts, where he averaged 5.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 16.5 minutes for the Rebels who finished 21-13 overall, tied for third in the SEC with an 11-7 record and lost to Xavier in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

As a freshman in 2013-14, Coleby started four of 28 games for Ole Miss and averaged 2.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 10.4 minutes per game.

— KU Athletics —

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — After seeing six players kicked off the team, having their coach and top receiver suspended and their defensive captain lost for the season with an injury, Rutgers actually can head into its bye week with a smile.

Chris Laviano threw two touchdowns and Josh Hicks ran for 113 yards and two more scores as embattled Rutgers snapped a two-game losing streak and defeated Kansas 27-14 Saturday, handing the Jayhawks their 34nd straight loss away from Lawrence.

It was the first win for the Scarlet Knights (2-2) since Flood was suspended for three games on Sept. 16 for contacting a faculty member about a player’s grade. Running backs coach Norries Wilson has run the team the last two games.

“It was a must win because I didn’t want to go into a bye week with a three-game losing streak and everybody hanging their head,” Wilson said. “We wanted to win a football game and make us feel good going into a bye week and know what we could go out and beat a quality opponent and get ourselves ready for the next one.”

The Scarlet Knights really needed this one after a last-minute loss to Washington State and a poor performance against Penn State days after Flood was suspended.

“We want to win all our games but we really needed this to have momentum heading into the bye week,” said Laviano, whose touchdowns covered 14 yards to Carlton Agudosi and 7 to Matt Flanagan. He finished 18 of 25 for 201 yards and two interceptions.

The Scarlet Knights have a brutal October in the Big Ten Conference with No. 2 Michigan State, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 22 Wisconsin on tap plus currently undefeated Indiana.

“We always talk about the season as the first four and then eight straight,” Flanagan said. “Ending these four games with a win is really big with the next opponent being Michigan State. ”

Hicks scored on runs of 1 and 4 yards. Robert Martin had 17 carries for 102 yards as the Scarlet Knights ran for a season-high 312 yards.

“The run game was definitely clicking today,” Martin said. “We had a good week of practice and it just escalated onto the field.”

Ke’aun Kinner scored on runs of 2 and 1 yard for Kansas (0-3), which is still looking to give new coach David Beaty his first win.

The Jayhawks were limited to 64 yards rushing on 29 attempts, a 2.2 yard average.

Rutgers, which had six players kicked off the team since August because of arrests and had star receiver Leonte Carroo suspended indefinitely for an altercation outside the stadium after a loss to Washington State, used a ball-control offense on drives of 91, 75 and 84 yards in opening a 27-7 lead early in the second half.

The Jayhawks hurt themselves with 15-yard penalties on each of the drives, including a horse-collar tackle by Ben Goodman on a third down play that kept one of them alive.

“Eliminate big plays,” Kansas linebacker Marcquis Roberts said of the mistakes. “We did pretty good for the most part. For the second half we did really good. We held them to seven points, but we have to eliminate big plays. The less big plays we have the better off we are”

Laviano capped the longest drive with the pass to Agudosi, who has moved into the starting lineup since Carroo was suspended. The pass to Flanagan capped a 31-yard drive set up when linebacker Kaiwan Lewis intercepted a pass by Deondre Ford. A botched extra point left the score at 13-0.

Ford, who got the start because Montell Cozart had flu-like symptoms before the game, sprained a thumb on the next series and did not return. Cozart came on and finished the game.

Hicks had a 31-yard run to set up his 1-yard tally with 2:31 left in the half. He added his 4-yard score on the opening series of the third quarter.

Kinner got Kansas within 13 points late in the third quarter after a fumble by Hicks. Cozart drove the Jayhawks of the Big 12 Conference to the Rutgers 20 midway through the fourth quarter but his fourth-down pass under pressure fell short.

Scarlet Knights defensive tackle Darius Hamilton announced before the game that he would not play again this season because of a lower body injury.

— Associated Press —

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Paxton Lynch threw for 354 yards and two scores, Memphis scored on its first five possessions of the second half and the Tigers rolled to a 55-23 victory over Kansas on Saturday night.

The Tigers (2-0) also piled up 281 yards rushing and five touchdowns, one apiece from five different players. They finished with 651 yards of total offense, while their point total was the most the Jayhawks (0-2) had allowed since Georgia Tech hung 66 on them on Sept. 17, 2011.

Memphis also pushed its winning streak to nine straight dating to last season, and snapped an infuriating 19-game skid against teams from power conferences.

The Jayhawks, riding a five-game losing streak, are still searching for their first victory for coach David Beaty. The last time Kansas lost its first two games was 2002.

Montell Cozart was just 13 of 28 for 118 yards passing for the Jayhawks, though he did have a TD run. Ke’aun Kinner added 113 yards rushing and another touchdown.

The Tigers spotted the Jayhawks a 10-0 lead thanks mostly to their own mistakes. Tevin Jones fumbled on their first offensive play and Kansas turned it into a field goal, and a three-and-out on the Tigers’ next possession set the Jayhawks up for a 73-yard touchdown drive.

But the perennial cellar-dwellers were unable to sustain the momentum.

Sam Craft’s short TD run helped Memphis to draw even by the end of the first quarter, and Doroland Dorceus’s scamper made it 17-10. The Jayhawks tacked on a field goal a few minutes later, but Lynch answered with a short TD toss to Jones with 32 seconds left before the half.

It took just 56 seconds out of the break to put the game away.

Mose Frazier took a handoff out of the shotgun, glided to his left and then turned up field. He left one Kansas defender on the turf with a smooth cutback, and then out-raced the rest of the secondary on 60-yard scoring run that gave the Tigers a 31-13 advantage.

By then, a decent crowd on a postcard-perfect evening must have decided to spend the rest of the night tailgating. There were as many empty seats in Memorial Stadium as full ones.

The Tigers put up three more touchdowns and a field goal against a Kansas defense that was repeatedly gouged by the Jackrabbits last weekend. In fact, things got so out of hand that Lynch sat the final 8 minutes as backup Clay Holgorson took over at quarterback.

Cozart also took a seat late in the game. Deondre Ford finished it out for Kansas.

— Associated Press —