Kansas beats Oklahoma in 3 OT battle of #1 vs #1

Hield played 54 of a possible 55 minutes.

With some late defensive stops. Oh, and did we mention it’s a league game between two of the top teams in the entire country?

The takeaways led to breakouts as Kansas (13-1, 2-0 Big 12) gained the lead with two free throws by Graham with 15.2 seconds left before Mason added two more with 8.6 seconds remaining.

As Monday night’s incredible game between top-ranked Kansas and second-ranked Oklahoma drifted into a third overtime, I started thinking about other regular-season games that also went three overtimes and featured memorable individual performances, and two immediately came to mind.

Both teams certainly played to those rankings.

When OU guard Jordan Woodard fouled out with 15 seconds left in the final overtime, he looked like he’d just run a marathon and fought a bear in the same span.

“I just hate losing”.

His points came off 13-of-23 shooting, despite a strong defensive effort by Mason, a junior who gave up five inches to the 6-foot-4 Hield.

OU did get a bad break on Hield’s ill-fated inbounds pass, swiped by Mason with 12 seconds left and OU down 107-106. The Wildcats then made four free throws. But Mason was whistled for his third foul with 6:04 left in regulation and his fourth foul with 22 seconds left in regulation. Instead of sending Oklahoma to the line for two free throws, Kansas let the Sooners run a play, but they never got off a good shot, falling 109-106. “I told our guys this… I need to watch film to see what I did wrong and learn from this and try to get better”. It was a highly controversial call, given the time in the game and the fact that most officials generally don’t like to have the final outcome of a game decided on a foul call. The Jayhawks and their fans may feel all high and mighty because the victory in this epic game was ultimately recorded on their side of the ledger, but I can guarantee you, they won’t have to work harder for a win than they did on Monday in their own building and in front of 16,000 of their closest followers. This was the best team that either team had played up to this point, which set up for the game to be a great one.

“He (Hield) just kept grinding in the face of a very good KU team that does very good offensively”. Wayne Selden Jr. scored 24 points to lead the Jayhawks.

Zemoria Jernigan added 14 points for the Devilettes. Fellow senior Ryan Spangler is averaging a double-double with 11.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.

Kansas (12-1) is the new No. 1, followed by Oklahoma.

The last meeting between No. 1 and No. 2 occurred on November 12, 2013, when Michigan State knocked off Kentucky in Chicago.

His 3-pointer from the top of the key to start the second overtime gave the Sooners (12-1) another lead.

Up next for KU, a Saturday trip to Texas Tech.

When the Associated Press poll was released Monday, the Jayhawks, 12-1, moved up one spot to No. 1, taking advantage of Michigan State’s first loss last Tuesday. Dwight Coleby, middle, and Devonte’ Graham (4) celebrate a 3-point basket late in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Baylor in Lawrence, Kan., Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016.