LAWRENCE, Kan. — With Tre White leading the scoring with a personal best of 23 points, the No. 14 Kansas team recovered from a surprising defeat to secure a 69-56 win against No. 5 Houston on Monday evening.
First-year standout Darryn Peterson contributed 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting across 30 minutes for the Jayhawks (21-7, 11-4 Big 12), a squad that dropped six positions in the latest AP Top 25 poll following an 84-68 home loss on Saturday to unranked Cincinnati.
Bryson Tiller recorded 11 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks for Kansas, who inflicted a third consecutive loss upon the struggling Cougars (23-5, 11-4)—all of which were against opponents ranked in the top 15. Melvin Council Jr. also chipped in with 11 points, six rebounds, and four assists.
Kingston Flemings managed 16 points on 6-of-18 attempts for Houston, a team that had not experienced three straight defeats since January 2017. The Cougars’ overall shooting percentage from the field was 32%, including a meager 5-of-24 (21%) from beyond the arc.
Kansas has maintained a streak of avoiding consecutive home losses since the 1988-89 season, which marked Roy Williams’ inaugural year as coach. The Jayhawks boast a remarkable 52-1 record in ESPN’s Big Monday matchups at Allen Fieldhouse, including an undefeated 41-0 under current coach Bill Self. Just two weeks prior, they had triumphed over top-ranked Arizona in “The Phog.”
An early 12-0 scoring run in the second half allowed Kansas to extend a narrow two-point lead to a significant 49-35 advantage by the under-12 minute media timeout. While the lead expanded to 20 points, Houston mounted a brief 7-0 rally, yet the Cougars were unable to reduce the deficit to fewer than 10 points for the remainder of the contest.
The Jayhawks got off to a difficult start, missing nine of their initial ten shot attempts and enduring an 8-minute, 28-second drought without a field goal. Nevertheless, they concluded the first half strongly with an 11-0 surge, heading into the intermission with a 31-27 lead.
Content for this report was partially provided by The Associated Press.
