NCAA Tournament 2017, Kansas vs Purdue: Highlights, score and recap

Highlights, score, and recap of the Sweet 16 showdown between Kansas and Purdue in the NCAA Tournament

Kansas is the lone top seed in the tournament that hasn’t really been tested yet. They’ve won both their games by strong double digits, avoiding courting an upset like so many of their other top-seeded brethren. They had managed it so far without Frank Mason III performing at his best, but they needed him against Purdue. And they got him — Mason was excellent in this game to lead Kansas to victory.

Purdue was more than game to challenge their lack of size, though. The Boilermakers did struggle a bit in their first two games, but their size poses unique matchup problems for most teams in college basketball. This held true against Kansas. Caleb Swanigan got the plaudits this year, but Isaac Haas led the charge from the bigs in this one. He hit five of his first six shots, and finished with 11 points as Kansas initially struggled to contend with his size on the block.

It was a back and forth matchup in the first half that held true to what you’d expect from the get-go — Kansas couldn’t match up with Purdue’s size, and Purdue couldn’t contain Kansas’s guards. Purdue raced out to an early lead thanks to some hot 3-point shooting – they buried six of their first ten. But Kansas battled back on the offensive boards and by forcing turnovers, eventually tying the game. Frank Mason III was excellent, pushing the ball in transition and pulling up with absolutely no conscience. After a run to end the first half, Kansas went into the 2nd up by 7.

Kansas continued to run away from Purdue in the second half. Fueled by a hail of dunks and forced turnovers, Kansas blew open the game in the early parts of the second half. Purdue could not cleanly enter the ball into the post, with Kansas’s active hands and some excellent post defense by Landen Lucas spoiling the Boilermakers’ preferred offensive paths. Swanigan and Haas were unable to assert themselves, and without their creation, Purdue couldn’t generate enough offense to hang with Kansas. They finished the game under 45 percent from the field after hitting 64 percent from two and 46 percent from three in the first half.

RELATED: Updated 2017 NCAA Tournament bracket

Led by the guard play of Frank Mason and Devonte’ Graham, along with some incredible dunks by Lagerald Vick and Josh Jackson, the Jayhawks were close to untouchable in the second half. They closed out their third straight tournament game by double digits, and were never in real danger of losing the game.

Three Stars

Kansas got the Frank Mason III it needed in this game. The senior guard was on fire, pushing the ball in transition, draining it from 3, and creating for his teammates. He finished with 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting, missing just 2 of his shots. He was also 4-of-5 from 3, and dished 7 assists to his teammates, penetrating the first line of the defense time and time again. #BIFM is back.

His backcourt partner Devonte’ Graham was none too shabby, either. He thrived in the wide open second half, scoring 16 of his points. His 26 points tied for the team lead with Mason, and he canned five of his nine 3-pointers. When Kansas’s backcourt plays like this, it’s really tough to see them losing.

Caleb Swanigan gamely fought through some difficulties inside to keep his team in contact for a while, leading the team with 18 points.. He also flashed his touch from outside, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts. He certainly deserves some blame, having lost six turnovers on the night, but in the end Biggie did all he could to lead his team. It just wasn’t enough tonight.

Highlights

Next Game

Kansas will move on to face Oregon in the Elite 8 game on Saturday. Oregon got past Michigan in a nailbiter earlier on Thursday, and will look to continue their hot outside shooting in their bid to get past Kansas. The way Kansas looks right now, it’ll be a tall order.