LAWRENCE, Kan. — Keion Brooks scored a career high 27 points leading No. 12 Kentucky over No. 5 Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse. The first win in Lawrence for UK since 1985.
It was an impressive first half for the Wildcats as they've had all season. They led Tennessee by 14 before pulling away to beat the Vols two weeks ago by 28. After jumping out to a 21-13 lead against Kansas thanks to Oscar Tshiebwe's play on the inside. Bill Self was forced to call a timeout.
It only got worse as Sahvir Wheeler drained a three from the wing to put UK up 46-29 with 3:00 to go in the first half. After a UK stop, Grady hit another three to give UK a 20 point lead. And Keion Brooks finished the half with a huge alley-oop slam to put the Cats up 51-31 at the break. Brooks led UK with 12 points and 4 rebounds. Tshiebwe added 11 points and 5 boards. Out of the eight players that were on the court for Kentucky only Davion Mintz didn't score.
More the same in the second half thanks to Brooks continuing his scoring onslaught on his way to that career high. The Jayhawks would get close with a steal by Ochai Agbaji. He'd hit a lay-up as he was fouled. Made the lay-up and the free throw to cut the UK lead to 62-48.
Along with his 27 points, Brooks added 8 rebounds and hit 9-of-10 free throws. Tshiebwe finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Grady added 12 and Toppin 11.
The Wildcats improve to 17-4 overall. Next up is a home game Wednesday night against Vanderbilt at 7:00 on the SEC Network.
