Sam Richardson, who had not even attempted a pass all year, threw for 250 yards and four touchdowns Saturday night, sparking Iowa State past Kansas 51-23 and handing the Jayhawks their 20th consecutive Big 12 loss.

Richardson led the Cyclones (6-5 overall, 3-5 Big 12) to touchdowns on four straight possessions in the second quarter while taking a 38-17 lead. The redshirt freshman, virtually overlooked all year in the Cyclones’ jumbled quarterback picture, had previously seen only mop-up duty in one game.

While going 23 for 27, Richardson spread his completions around to 12 different receivers. Six different Cyclones scored touchdowns.

For Kansas (1-10, 0-8), the final home game of the year sent a bedraggled class of seniors out on the same sort of sour note which has characterized their entire collegiate careers.

The fourth- and fifth-year seniors came aboard just as the Mark Mangino-coached Jayhawks were winning two straight bowl games for the first time in school history. The long-struggling program seemed headed for the heights. But after starting the 2009 season 5-0, the Jayhawks lost their next seven and now, counting this lopsided loss to Iowa State, have dropped a stunning 36 of 42 games under three head coaches.

Kansas will need to win at West Virginia in its season finale on Dec. 1 to avoid its worst season since the 1988 Jayhawks finished 1-10.

It’s also a bitter entry into the Big 12 for Kansas coach Charlie Weis, who announced at midweek that he would pay the $3 charge for anyone who wanted to buy a student ticket and come to the game. Officials said it would be several days to know how many took him up on his offer. But it appeared only a few hundred did.

Richardson replaced starter Steele Jantz on Iowa State’s third possession and immediately engineered a 10-play, 89-yard drive connecting, with Josh Lenz for 30 yards and setting up Jeff Woody’s 11-yard touchdown run for a 10-7 lead. Lenz also had a 14-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.

Tony Pierson rushed for 89 yards for Kansas, including a 55-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, and caught a 37-yard scoring pass from Dayne Crist in the fourth. But after his 55-yard score, Iowa State answered immediately with Richardson’s 11-yard scoring pass to Albert Gary.

Durrell Givens recovered James Sims’ fumble on the Jayhawks’ next possession, and five plays later Richardson connected with a wide-open Aaron Horne on a 30-yard scoring play, making it 24-14.

The lead went to 31-14 a few minutes later when Richardson, following Woody’s 43-yard run, dived over from the 1.

A 20-yard pass to Ernst Brun, capping a six-play, 57-yard drive, completed the second-quarter blitz and put Iowa State on top 38-14.

Edwin Arceo kicked three field goals for the Cyclones, including a 51-yarder in the third quarter.

— Associated Press —

Guards Wayne Selden and Frank Mason have signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) to play basketball at Kansas, KU head coach Bill Self announced Friday. The duo join three others in what many are considering one of the top recruiting classes in the early signing period. Guard Conner Frankamp, center Joel Embiid and forward Brannen Greene signed with Kansas earlier this week.

Selden signed his NLI Friday evening in a ceremony at the Shelburne Community Center in his hometown of Roxbury, Mass., a suburb of Boston.

“Wayne is one of the most powerful wings in high school basketball,” Self said. “He’s got a great frame. He’s explosive. He can play the two or three and maybe even play some emergency point. He’s big enough to post and defend the four if we decide to go small and he can make shots.”

Described as a dynamic, explosive and powerful athlete, the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Selden attends The Tilton School in Tilton, N.H. He reclassified from 2014 to 2013 earlier this year. Last year Selden averaged 16 points, five assists and three rebounds and helped lead Tilton to a 25-6 record and the NEPSAC Class AA title game. Selden has also had success on the club circuit where he plays for Boston Amateur Basketball Club. His club team won the highly-competitive Elite Youth Basketball League title in 2011.

“Norm (Roberts) deserves the credit for recruiting Wayne,” Self said of KU assistant coach Norm Roberts. “Wayne has a great family and he’s at a terrific school. I really believe he’s the total package as a future Jayhawk.”

Selden has a four-star rating and ranks No. 14 nationally by ESPN100 and No. 23 by Rivals.com. He verbally committed to playing for the Jayhawks after his visit during Late Night in the Phog in October and chose Kansas over Syracuse, Florida, UCLA and Missouri.

Mason is a 5-foot-11, 180-pound point guard from Petersburg, Va., where he plays at Massanutten Military Academy, in Woodstock, Va. Prior to Massanutten, Mason played at Petersburg High School where led the state in scoring in 2011 at 27.4 points per game and in 2012 at 27.1 points per contest. During his Petersburg career he scored 1,901 points and the Wave were a combined 78-4. Mason guided the Wave to two state tournament appearances.

“He’s a jet,” Self said. “Frank is a really, really quick guard. He’s a true point. He can get guys easy baskets. He can break people down, very similar to the way the fans saw Sherron (Collins) break people down off the bounce.”

Mason is three-star player ranked No. 134 by Rivals.com and is the No. 29 point guard in the 2013 class. Mason chose Kansas over Alabama, Maryland, South Carolina and Virginia Tech.

“Frank is one of the best kept secrets in high school basketball,” Self said. “I really believe even though his high school ranking is not much; he’s a guy that is as good as any guard out there.”

Kansas Men’s Basketball Fall 2012 Signees

Brannen Greene (F, 6-7, 200, Monroe, Ga./Tifton HS)

Joel Embiid (C, 7-0, 220, Camaroon/Gainesville, Fla./The Rock School)

Conner Frankamp (G, 6-0, 160, Wichita, Kan./Wichita North HS)

Frank Mason (G, 5-11, 180, Petersburg, Va./Massanutten Military Academy)

Wayne Selden (G, 6-5, 225, Roxbury, Mass./Tilton [N.H.] School)

— KU Sports Information —

Bill Self dared Ben McLemore to be more aggressive Thursday night.

If the freshman guard hadn’t heeded the challenge, seventh-ranked Kansas could have left the court inside Allen Fieldhouse with consecutive losses for the first time in ages.

McLemore wound up with 25 points and eight rebounds, and teamed with Elijah Johnson to trigger a big second-half charge, allowing the Jayhawks to escape with a 69-55 victory over Chattanooga.

“I just wanted to get my teammates involved, too,” said McLemore, who added three assists, all despite dislocating his finger twice in the second half. “I just came in tonight with the mindset of being aggressive, like coach wants me to be every night.”

The Jayhawks (2-1), coming off a loss Tuesday night to Michigan State, got off to a sluggish start against the Mocs, and still trailed 42-30 in the opening minutes of the second half.

Jeff Withey began their comeback with a basket inside, Johnson ripped a 3-pointer and McLemore slammed down the first of back-to-back highlight-reel dunks to trigger a 27-4 run over the next 12-plus minutes. Kansas merely had to go through the motions down the stretch to wrap up the win.

“Ben showed a glimpse of his athletic ability tonight,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Defenses are going to be designed to stop Ben, and we don’t know how to run offense yet. We’re still trying to figure it out, and to me that was pretty impressive tonight.”

Farad Cobb was just as impressive: He was 6 of 7 from beyond the arc in the first half, and added another 3-pointer in the second half to finish with 31 points for Chattanooga (1-1).

“They just locked us up defensively,” Chattanooga coach John Shulman said. “They came back and made some shots. Once you make a shot, it kind of changes how everything looks.”

Kansas managed to extend the nation’s third-longest home-court winning streak to 25 games despite having more turnovers (9) than field goals (8) in the waning minutes of the first half.

That’s when things were still tenuous for the Jayhawks.

And when Cobb couldn’t miss.

The freshman guard made his first 3-pointer in the opening minutes, and then after a miss, connected on five straight to finish off the half. Two of them came on consecutive possessions just before the break that helped lift Chattanooga to a 36-28 lead.

The halftime deficit was Kansas’ largest at home to a non-conference opponent since 2005.

Self, whose hallmark over the years has been gritty, in-your-shorts defense, was steaming on the sideline as he blew through just about all his timeouts trying to get Cobb to cool down.

“It’s not a good feeling, period,” Johnson said. “I don’t really like for people to come into the Fieldhouse and have a game like that. It doesn’t happen too much.”

Chattanooga stayed hot early in the second half, getting 3-pointers from Z Mason and Ronrico White to extend the lead to 42-30. The Mocs were 10 of 16 from beyond the arc at that point.

That’s when Kansas finally buckled down on defense, let loose on offense, and gave another packed crowd inside Allen Fieldhouse a reason to jump to its feet.

McLemore’s first dunk during the surge prompted a timeout by Chattanooga coach John Shulman. After the Jayhawks forced a shot-clock violation when the game resumed, McLemore hopped on his pogo stick along the baseline and skied to grab a lob by Johnson for another dunk.

“He’s so explosive,” Shulman said. “He hangs up there for a while.”

McLemore was on the giving end on the next possession, tossing up the pass for Travis Releford to finish off a dunk, and Shulman frantically called another timeout.

Johnson’s 3-pointer finally gave Kansas a 44-43 lead, its first since it was 2-0. McLemore added a breakaway dunk, Naadir Tharpe buried a 3, and Johnson connected with McLemore again for an alley-oop dunk. By the time Withey took a feed from McLemore for a dunk and then added a foul shot, the Jayhawks had suddenly built a 57-46 lead.

“We just got on a roll,” McLemore said, “and we took it from there.”

The Jayhawks cruised down the stretch, outscoring the Mocs 41-19 in the second half. They only committed four turnovers after the break while forcing Chattanooga into 12.

“I thought the first half was the worst we’ve played, and the second half was the best we’ve played all year,” Self said. “One thing that I do know, we’re not good enough to play 80 percent or 90 percent. We have to play 100 percent every night. When we do that, we’re pretty good.”

— Associated Press —

It officially became official as do-it-all guard Conner Frankamp has signed a National Letter of Intent to play men’s basketball at Kansas, head coach Bill Self announced Wednesday.

A 6-foot-0, 160-pound, Wichita, Kan., sharpshooter, Frankamp verbally committed to Kansas during his sophomore season at Wichita North High School. Rivals.com rates Frankamp the No. 30 player in the class of 2013 and the best player in the state of Kansas. Scout.com has Frankamp with a four-star rating and as the ninth-best point guard in this year’s class.

“Conner comes as no major surprise because he’s been committed for quite some time,” Self said. “I think Conner is one of the best guards we have recruited since we’ve been here. He can score. He’s sneaky athletic and can play the one and the two and will be a great combo guard in our system.”

As a junior last season, Frankamp averaged 32.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game at Wichita North for coach Gary Squires. The Redskins advanced to the 2012 state quarterfinals with a 15-8 record and Frankamp earned All-State honors for the second straight season.

With 1,639 career points, Frankamp is 538 points from becoming the Wichita City League all-time leading scorer. He would need to average roughly 28 points a game to surpass current KU freshman Perry Ellis’ record of 2,231 points set from 2009-12 at Wichita Heights High School.

“His high school career has been stellar playing for Gary Squires and his father (Marty) at Wichita North,” Self said. “He should become the all-time leading scorer in Wichita, replacing Perry who just set the record just last year. We know he can score.”

Frankamp also has international experience as this past summer he led the U17 USA Basketball team to the gold medal at the FIBA World Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania. Frankamp led the Americans in scoring by averaging 14.1 points per game during the FIBA Championships.

“With USA basketball he did everything,” Self said. “He played on the ball, off the ball and he was the leading scorer on the under 17 team that won the gold medal this past summer. He’s a good scorer. Other players enjoy playing with him and I absolutely love watching him play.”

He was also a member of the 2011 FIBA Americas U16 Championship team which allowed the U17 team to qualify for the FIBA World Championships in 2012. Additionally, Frankamp has twice been selected to the USA Developmental National Team in 2010 and 2011.

“Conner comes from an athletic family where he grew up with his father (Marty) as his coach,” Self said. “Karen is a school teacher and they absolutely love KU and they will be a great addition to the KU family.”

— KU Sports Information —

Looking to bounce back from a season-opening loss, Michigan State turned to its top returning scorer from last season.

Keith Appling came through.

Big time.

Hitting a pair of huge shots down the stretch—one from beyond the 3-point arc, the other on an acrobatic drive—Appling carried the No. 21 Spartans to a 67-64 upset of No. 7 Kansas on Tuesday night.

“The offense was kind of stagnant, so I wanted to make a play the best way I possible could,” said Appling, who led Michigan State with 19 points. “From there, it was all she wrote.”

The Spartans (1-1) opened with a surprising loss to Connecticut on the other side of the Atlantic. Their road show moved from Germany to a doubleheader at the Georgia Dome—site of this season’s Final Four—featuring four of the nation’s best teams. No. 3 Kentucky faced No. 9 Duke in the second game.

The Jayhawks (1-1) led 59-54 with 5 minutes remaining, showing signs of taking control in a game that was tight all the way. But Michigan State rallied behind its brilliant guards.

“We did some good things,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “It’s just that games are decided in the last five minutes. And they were better in the last five.”

Freshman Gary Harris scored 18 points for the Spartans, including back-to-back baskets that sparked an 8-0 run. Appling, who averaged 11.4 points last season, took over from there.

He 6-foot-1 junior picked up a screen, darted away when 7-footer Jeff Withey popped out to help, then wound up with an open look from beyond the arc when Withey turned back for the lane and got tangled up with his own man.

Appling’s shot from the top of the circle was right on the mark, pushing the lead to 65-61 with 1:35 remaining.

Ben McLemore gave Kansas a chance, converting a three-point play after a needless foul by Denzel Valentine. But Appling drove past Withey at the other hand with a left-handled dribble, cradled the ball and banked in a shot between two defenders with 13.5 seconds to go.

That left Kansas with no choice but to try a 3. Travis Releford got a look as time expired, but his shot clanked off the side of the rim.

Elijah Johnson led Kansas with 16 points. Withey, who played so well in last season’s NCAA tournament, wasn’t much of a factor against the Spartans. He was held to eight points and seven rebounds, along with four turnovers.

Michigan State’s bulky big man, Derrick Nix, held his own against Withey with eight points and rebounds.

“Nix is a big guy, that’s for sure,” Withey said. “He’s really strong. He’s tough to guard.”

The 7-footer did knock down a hook at the 5-minute mark, giving the Jayhawks what amounted to a comfortable lead in this one—five points.

Not comfortable enough.

Michigan State scored the next eight points. Harris swished a jumper, then darted into the lane to flip in a one-hander. Nix hit a pair of free throws on separate trips to the line, putting the Spartans ahead. Then, after Withey fumbled away an errant pass from Johnson, Branden Dawson hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead with just over 2 minutes remaining.

Johnson finally snapped the run, drawing a foul on Harris and hitting both free throws.

But the senior guard also missed a big jumper in the closing minutes and felt he let his team down.

“I put that all on me,” Johnson said. “Coach put the ball in my hands and I didn’t do a great job.”

The globe-trotting Spartans opened the season against UConn at an Air Force hanger in Germany. They were still a long way from home but at least playing in a bit more of a conventional venue, albeit one that is normally used by the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.

“We got a little bit of our pride and character back after not playing well over there,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “The trip wasn’t easy. It shows we have a lot of character.”

Kansas is hoping to get back to Atlanta in April and go one win farther than last season, when the Jayhawks lost to Kentucky in the national championship game.

The game was close throughout, with a dozen ties and 11 lead chances. Kansas had the biggest lead, a 45-38 edge on Naadir Tharpe’s 3-pointer with 12:02 remaining.

Kansas led 35-32 lead at the half and went to the locker room on a bit of a high, spurred on by a thunderous dunk by Jamari Traylor in the final minute. Johnson darted into the lane and missed, but Traylor, coming up from behind, slammed it through with his right hand to spark the Kansas contingent.

Harris led the Spartans in the first half with 11 points. Johnson and McLemore had seven apiece for the Jayhawks before the break.

— Associated Press —

No. 25 Texas Tech has practiced the play that gave the Red Raiders a 41-34 double overtime win over Kansas on Saturday—not always with the best results.

Eric Stephens took the snap out of the wildcat formation, rolled to his right and threw a 3-yard jump pass to Darrin Moore for the winning touchdown.

“It’s been hit or miss in practice, but I just had a really good feeling about it,” quarterback Seth Doege said. “I think Eric’s one of those guys when you call his number, he’s going to get the job done.”
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Kansas quarterback Michael Cummings couldn’t connect with Tre’ Parmalee in the end zone on fourth-and-9 for Kansas to end the Jayhawks’ chances.

The two teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime. Cummings found James Sims for a 5-yard score to put Kansas up 34-27. Stephens tied it at 34 on a 1-yard run.

The Jayhawks (1-9, 0-7 Big 12) came from behind in the fourth quarter and sent the game into overtime on a 32-yard field goal by Nick Prolago with under a minute remaining in regulation. Those points were set up by a 44-yard run by Cummings on fourth-and-3 from the Jayhawks 36 that took the ball down to the Texas Tech 20.

“Michael runs down there and keeps the ball and almost takes it to the house,” Kansas coach Charlie Weis said. “With my luck, he would have taken it to the house too quickly because, as it was, they came down the field and had a chance to win right there.”

Doege completed 45 of 59 passes for three touchdowns and 476 yards for Texas Tech (7-3, 4-3). He had one interception in the second quarter that seemed to give the Jayhawks belief they could upset the Red Raiders. The Jayhawks outscored the Red Raiders 20-6 in regulation after the interception.

Tony Pierson had a career-high 202 rushing yards on 16 carries for Kansas, which lost its ninth in a row and 19th straight Big 12 game.

Pierson also got the longest run from scrimmage this season for the Jayhawks when he scampered 69 yards to set up Sims’ 3-yard run that pulled Kansas within 27-24 with about nine minutes remaining in the game.

Sims, the junior from Irving, Texas, got his sixth game with more than 100 yards, becoming the first Jayhawk to do so since 1961. He finished with 127 yards on 30 carries.

The win ended a two-game skid for the Red Raiders, following losses to Texas and Kansas State.

Doege’s completion to Tyson Williams at the Kansas 20 with six seconds remaining in regulation was called back after a review because Doege’s knee hit the ground after he fumbled the snap. Then Ryan Bustin missed to the left by about a yard on a 41-yard field goal attempt in high winds that would have won the game at the end of regulation.

Texas Tech was 18th in the country in total defense coming into the game, giving up an average of 314 yards per game. Against the Jayhawks they gave up 419 yards.

Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said his team played well in spurts in the second half.

“We weren’t able to make big plays like we thought we could,” he said. “They made us earn it. There were times we were on the edge of breaking that thing open. We just weren’t able to do that.”

For a second straight week, the Red Raiders had some trouble when they got into the red zone. Last week, in the loss to Texas, they went for field goals four times after they stalled inside the 20. This week they got two field goals after failing to get into the end zone.

Still, Doege threw touchdown passes of 9, 16 and 6 yards—one each to Jakeem Grant, Williams and Moore—to build a 21-7 lead for Texas Tech in the second quarter.

A video clip of Tuberville went viral during the game. Footage shows him facing graduate assistant Kevin Oliver and appearing to use his left hand to strike him on the right side of his face. Oliver’s headset and ball cap fall off. It happened when the Red Raiders seemed to have difficulty getting the right personnel on the field.

Tuberville said he didn’t mean to hit the graduate assistant.

“It wasn’t anything to it,” he said. “It was just one of those deals where I missed his shoulder and ended up grabbing the microphone on his head set and pulled it off.”

Texas Tech’s offense was hit or miss in the first half. The Red Raider had three three-and-outs on three of their seven possessions. Yet at times Doege still was able to the offense down the field, despite a stiff south wind that at times gusted 50 mph.

Kansas pulled within 21-14 after Doege threw his ninth interception of the season. Brad McDougald picked off the pass in the middle of the field and returned it 32 yards to the Red Raiders 29 halfway through the second quarter.

A few plays later Cummings found Brandon Bourbon in the near-side flat and he ran it in for a 10-yard touchdown.

On the Jayhawks’ next possession, Pierson juked diagonally across the field for a 49-yard run that led to a 22-yard field goal for Kansas to whittle the lead to 21-17 going into halftime.

On Doege’s second touchdown pass he moved into third place all-time at Texas Tech. His 63rd touchdown pass came when he hit Tyson Williams in the back corner of the end zone to put the Red Raiders up 14-7 early in the second quarter.

— Associated Press —

Jeff Withey admitted that he sleepwalked through most of Kansas’ two exhibition games.

The 7-footer, a key component of last year’s national runners-up, has been trying to adapt to life without Thomas Robinson, the All-America forward who left early for the NBA draft. Withey’s the guy who’s getting the double teams now, and the guy all eyes will be on in the paint.

He finally woke up Friday night, and gave everybody watching something to see.

The senior finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots, and the seventh-ranked Jayhawks pulled away late to beat Southeast Missouri State 74-55 in their season opener.

”I still have a lot of things to work on,” Withey said, ”but I’m definitely getting more confident, and starting to feel comfortable with all the new guys.”

Yes, the new guys.

There’s a bunch of them this season.

And the Jayhawks will have to rely heavily on them, too.

Ben McLemore had nine points, 12 rebounds and five assists in his long-awaited debut, and Perry Ellis finished with 15 points and eight boards as the freshman starters helped the Jayhawks win their 40th straight season opener at Allen Fieldhouse.

”It was great getting my first game under the belt,” Ellis said. ”Just listening to the seniors, it really helped a lot, motivating me day-in and day-out.”

This one certainly wasn’t easy.

The Redhawks managed to close within six midway through the second half, but Kansas slowly extended the lead behind its slew of freshmen to put the game away.

”We played hard,” Redhawks coach Dickey Nutt said. ”In the first half we really pressed a lot, we were nervous, we were star-struck. I think in the second half we slowed down a bit.”

Nick Niemczyk finished with 14 points for the Redhawks, who have lost seven straight season openers, all on the road, and remain winless in six tries against Big 12 schools.

Kansas returns three starters from last year’s national runners-up, including the 7-foot Withey, a preseason honorable-mention All-America selection. But the two guys they lost left gaping holes: Big 12 player of the year Robinson, who left early for the NBA draft, and Tyshawn Taylor, a senior guard who also went in the draft.

In their place are a bunch of newcomers – nine in all – including McLemore and Jamari Traylor, who were forced to redshirt last season after the NCAA ruled them partial qualifiers.

The Jayhawks certainly showed some growing pains in their only tune-up before facing No. 14 Michigan State next week. They turned it over 13 times and finished 2 for 21 from beyond the 3-point arc, with top sharp-shooter Elijah Johnson missing all four of his attempts.

”The first half we played good, we just didn’t make any shots,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. ”You defend, you rebound, you don’t turn it over, you get decent looks – we were up 15 in the first half and based on how they shot it and we defended, we could have easily been up 25.”

The Jayhawks’ scored the game’s first 11 points, but Naadir Tharpe’s 3-pointer from the wing with 16 minutes left before halftime was the last 3 that they’d hit until the closing minutes.

That’s the biggest reason Southeast Missouri State managed to hang around.

The Redhawks still trailed 36-19 with about 18 minutes remaining, but Nino Johnson’s three-point play got their rally started. Lucas Nutt and Marland Smith added a pair of free throws, and after McLemore soared for a follow-up dunk, Johnson and Niemczyk added two more baskets.

The 11-2 surge got Southeast Missouri State within 38-30.

The Redhawks, picked to finish second in the Ohio Valley Conference, kept taking advantage of the Jayhawks’ ineptitude on offense, whittling the lead to 43-37 with 12 minutes left.

”We gave them some open looks but tonight we just got lucky,” Niemczyk said.

The luck finally ran out with about 12 minutes to play.

Withey got to the line for a pair of free throws, McLemore added a slashing layup, and Travis Releford got into the act with two free throws. By the time Ellis converted a three-point play with just under 8 minutes to go, the Jayhawks had extended the lead back to 54-41.

”Everybody has days when the ball doesn’t fall,” Tharpe said. ”We’re going to make those shots as the season goes on, as long as we’re confident enough to keep shooting them.”

Kansas managed to grind the rest of the time off the clock, even chipping in a couple of highlights along the way: McLemore’s soaring dunk off a miss by Johnson with just over 4 minutes left, and a rim-rattling dunk by Withey that energized the crowd moments later.

”If we can win and not make any shots,” Withey said, ”that’s a good sign.”

— Associated Press —

Kansas seniors Elijah Johnson and Jeff Withey were name to the John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 for the 2012-13 season by the Los Angeles Athletics Club Thursday. The list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who, based on last year’s individual performance and team records, are the early front-runners for the John R. Wooden Award and Wooden Award All-America Team, consisting of 10 players.

Kansas is one of eight schools that have two or more players named to the list.

A 6-foot-4 guard from Las Vegas, Johnson is Kansas’ leading returning scorer from last season’s Big 12 regular-season champion and Final Four team which advanced to the NCAA title game with a 10.2 point per game average. As a junior, Johnson led Kansas with 69 three-pointers made and 55 steals. He was second on the team and ninth in the Big 12 with 3.5 assists per game and his 1.4 steals per contest were fifth in the conference. He had 19 games with multiple three-pointers in 2011-12 and had his first double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds against Ohio State in the 2012 Final Four semifinals.

A 7-foot center from San Diego, Withey was recently selected Associated Press Preseason All-America Honorable Mention, a candidate to the Senior CLASS Award and to the All-Big 12 preseason team by the conference coaches. Withey was the 2012 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and an all-conference third-team selection who set the Kansas and Big 12 single-season blocked shots record with 140 last season. Included in his 140 blocked shots were an NCAA Tournament record 31 in KU’s run to the NCAA National Championship title game and a conference games only record of 65. Withey averaged 9.0 points and 6.3 rebounds for Kansas last season and shot a team-best 79.5 percent from the free throw line.

Transfers, freshmen and medical redshirts are not eligible for the Preseason Top 50. The players on the list are considered strong candidates for the midseason list and the official voting ballot, both of which are open to freshman and transfer students. The national ballot consists of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining at least a cumulative 2.0 GPA.  The Wooden Award All American Team will be announced the week of the “Elite Eight” round of the NCAA Tournament.

The 37th annual Wooden Award ceremony will honor the Men’s and Women’s Wooden Award winners, and will include the presentation of the Wooden Award All American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, which in 2013 will go to Kansas head coach Bill Self. The event will take place the weekend of April 12-13, 2013.

— KU Sports Information —

Seven blocks by defending Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Jeff Withey highlighted the defensive effort that pushed No. 7 Kansas men’s basketball past Washburn, 62-50, in the Jayhawks’ final exhibition game of the 2012-13 season, Monday evening at Allen Fieldhouse.

On a night where the Jayhawk offense struggled to find rhythm, the defense stepped up to out-block the Ichabods, 13-3, and hold the visitors to a 26 percent (16-for-62) shooting night. Five different players blocked at least one shot on Monday, led by Withey’s seven. The senior center added nine points and eight rebounds.

KU ends the 2012-13 exhibition season with a 4-2 record, which includes the Jayhawks’ games against the Swiss National Team and AMW France in Europe this August. Overall, the Jayhawks moved to 61-9 all-time in exhibition games.

Washburn, who is ranked No. 2 on the NABC Division II Coaches poll, also completed its preseason slate on Monday and did so by holding the Jayhawks to their lowest scoring output in an exhibition game at Allen Fieldhouse. The previous low came in a 73-47 victory against Pittsburg State on Nov. 14, 2005.

The Jayhawk offense still managed a 43 percent (20-for-46) shooting effort, led by redshirt freshman Ben McLemore. The rookie guard provided the offensive power, contributing 13 points in the first half and a team-best 17 for the evening on 6-of-12 shooting. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, giving him the only double-double of the night.

McLemore was joined on the leaderboard by senior guard Elijah Johnson. Johnson wrapped up his evening with 13 points as both guards hit three, three-pointers. Freshman forward Perry Ellis was the only other Jayhawk in double figures, contributing 10 points and five rebounds.

Senior guard Will McNeill led the Ichabod offense, tallying 13 points, while junior forward Alex North set the defensive tone with a team-best four steals. All but two of the 11 Ichabods who checked into the game swiped at least one steal, forcing 24 Kansas turnovers – more than the Jayhawks committed in any game last season.

While Kansas kicked off the game a chilly 1-for-7, Washburn needed less than a minute to put together an 8-0 run. Fueled by back-to-back threes from senior guards Martin Mitchell and Bobby Chipman, the Ichabods took a 10-5 lead and prompted a timeout from head coach Bill Self prior to the first media break.

Responsive to the early timeout, senior guard Travis Releford stole a Washburn pass under the basket and took off where he found Johnson down the court to complete the fast break layup, capping a 7-0 run that returned the lead to Kansas. Warming up, Johnson drilled a three from the left wing and Ellis muscled his way to a layup less than 30 seconds later to get the Jayhawks off and running.

Though Kansas warmed up to hit 8-of-12 after the team’s slow start, the Ichabods held the Jayhawks’ lead to single digits until McLemore got rolling. The redshirt freshman broke loose for 13 of the Jayhawks next 15 points, handing Kansas the 34-19 lead with his third three-pointer of the game just 30 seconds after taking a charge on the other end of the floor.

A layup from Ellis followed McLemore’s scoring show, but was the last time Kansas scored in the half. Although Washburn couldn’t cut the Jayhawk lead back to single digits, the visitors kept KU from scoring for the final three and a half minutes. KU took a 36-24 lead into halftime.

Releford went 1-for-2 at the line to provide Kansas’ only point prior to the first media timeout to open the second half. Withey’s dunk at the 15:13 mark snapped a nearly nine-minute field-goal drought for the Jayhawks. KU, however, benefitted from an even slower start on Washburn’s side as the visitors started the half making two of their first 10 shots, allowing the Jayhawks to keep a double-digit distance.

Four-straight free throws from Johnson and McLemore extended KU’s lead, 47-30, the largest lead of the evening with less than 12 minutes to play. Meanwhile, a big block from Ellis reenergized the crowd, but three-straight Kansas turnovers prevented the home team from breaking the game open.

The spark Kansas was in need of came with less than five minutes to play. Withey swatted away a Washburn three-point attempt and he quickly came up with the loose ball, tossing it up the floor for a transition dunk by Releford. The senior guard was fouled on the play, which he converted to a three-point play, stretching the lead to 58-42. A free throw from Withey with a minute and a half to play accounted for KU’s final scoring of the night as the Jayhawks settled for the 62-50 win.

UP NEXT

No. 7 Kansas will open regular-season play when it hosts Southeast Missouri State on Nov. 9 in the opening round of the CBE Classic. Tip time from Allen Fieldhouse will be 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on the Jayhawk IMG Television Network.

— KU Sports Information —