Roos Fall in Road Battle with No. 2 Kansas

Tuesday, December 5

Lawrence, KS

7:00 PM

Kansas City

3-6,0-0Summit League

Kansas

8-1,0-0Big 12

Kansas City

Kansas

Photo by: Ryan Weaver

Roos Fall in Road Battle with No. 2 Kansas

12/5/2023 11:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Menzies Postgame Photo Gallery

Faas, Courseault and Kopp all broke double-digits in Lawrence

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Kansas City Men's Basketball (3-6) gave No. 2 Kansas (8-1) a battle inside of Allen Fieldhouse this evening, but a late run by the Jayhawks put the game away, 88-69. The Roos were helped by a hot-shooting Cameron Faas and the emergence of Khristion Courseault, who both scored their season-highs with 18 points.

The Jayhawks jumped out to an early lead, going ahead by 20 points by the under-eight media timeout of the first half. The Roos would not go down easily, however, cutting the lead down to single digits late in the second half and out-scoring the second-ranked team in the nation across the final 27 minutes of game play.

A healthy dose of three-pointers aided the Kansas City efforts, shooting 8-of-27 from behind the arc. Faas dropped five triples, Courseault hit two and Anderson Kopp knocked down one en route to a 15-point night. Kansas had four players reach double figures, led by a 25-point night from Kevin McCullar Jr.

KEY MOMENTS

1H - 19:41 / 2-0 | Kopp got the Roos off to a good start, faking a shot and watching his man go past, then knocking down a mid-range jumper for KC's only lead of the night. The Jayhawks proceeded to go on a 14-2 run to take a double-digit lead.
1H - 7:17 / 14-31 | After the Jayhawks took a 20-point advantage, Melvyn Ebonkoli found Faas for his second three of the evening and sparked an 11-4 Kansas City run that cut the deficit down to 13 points and forced a timeout by KU.
1H - 2:07 / 28-40 | Both teams traded threes to end the first half. First came a triple by Kopp, then by KU's Dajuan Harris Jr. and finally a three by Courseault to cut the lead back to 12 points. Kansas would lead by 14 going into the half.
2H - 17:54 / 33-46 | Kansas City entered the second half with confidence, as Kopp backed his man down, pump faking to draw contact and finishing at the rim for an and-one bucket and KC's first points of the second half.
2H - 12:34 / 45-55 | Kansas City scored six-straight points and held the Jayhawks scoreless for over two minutes to cut the deficit to 10. Faas pulled up for a trey from 28 feet to cap the run and force KU into a timeout.
2H - 9:18 / 49-64 | Artese Stapleton drove the lane and scored on a layup, but the Jayhawks would score the next seven points and extend their lead to a game-high 22 points.
2H - 3:50 / 67-75 | The Roos responded with a run of their own, going on a 16-4 run across four minutes of game time. Courseault finished the Roos' run, scoring and and-one bucket and knocking down a three that cut KU's lead to single digits for the first time since the 13:21 mark of the first half. Kansas finished the game on a 13-2 tear to secure the victory.

STATS TO NOTE

Allen David Mukeba Jr. came up with a big block for the Roos at the beginning of the second half, marking his sixth consecutive game with at least one block. Of those six games, he put up a season-high two blocks against Colorado State, Middle Tennessee and Southeast Missouri State.
Faas went 5-for-7 from three, putting up his second-best three-point performance of the season. His five threes are tied for most against Kansas by a Roo all-time, also reached twice by Michael Watson on Jan. 4, 2003, and Dec. 8, 2001.
Tonight's matchup was the closest between the Roos and Jayhawks since Dec. 8, 2001, when they fell 79-68; the Jayhawks were ranked fourth in the nation at the time. The Jayhawks were ranked second in the AP Poll coming into today's meeting.
For just the second occasion this season, the Roos lost the rebound battle. The only other occasion in which the Roos have been out-rebounded came against No. 15 Baylor.
Coming into tonight's game, Kansas held opponents to 36.3% shooting from the field, making them sixth in the nation for opponent field goal percentage in Division One. Tonight, the Roos shot 26-for-65 for a 40% clip from the field.

POSTGAME INTERVIEW
Coach Marvin Menzies

UP NEXT
The Roos stay on the road this weekend, traveling to Lindenwood for a meeting with the Lions on Saturday.