Kansas routs Purdue 98-66 in NCAA's Midwest Regional

DAVE SKRETTA

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — It took about 10 minutes for Kansas guards Frank Mason III and Devonte Graham to slow down, gain their composure and get everything under control in their Midwest Regional semifinal.

When that happened, everything promptly sped up for Purdue.

The pace of the game turning in their favor, the high-flying Jayhawks proceeded to wear down the bigger, stronger Boilermakers on Thursday night. And by the time Mason and Graham finished pouring in 26 points apiece, No. 1 seed Kansas had coasted to a 98-66 victory and a spot in the Elite Eight.

"When we started to slow down and play our style of basketball, that's when we started rolling," said Mason, the player of the year front-runner, who also had seven rebounds and seven assists.

The Jayhawks will play No. 3 seed Oregon, which survived a nail-biter earlier in the night, on Saturday night for a spot in their first Final Four since 2012.

Josh Jackson added 15 points and 12 rebounds, and Landen Lucas did a good job of keeping Purdue forwards Caleb Swanigan and Isaac Haas in check, as the Jayhawks (31-4) turned a seven-point halftime lead into their third consecutive blowout in the NCAA Tournament.

Their beat-down of the Big Ten champs followed easy wins over UC Davis and Michigan State.

"You just cannot let them get in transition like that," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "If they keep getting those types of opportunities and shoot like that, they can't be stopped."

Swanigan still had 18 points and seven boards for the No. 4 seed Boilermakers (27-8), but the 6-foot-9, 250-pound All-America candidate had to work for all of it. The Jayhawks kept collapsing on him in the post, forcing Swanigan to begin taking 3-pointers early in the second half.

It wasn't much longer before the game was out of reach.

"It was one of the best games we've played all year," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "The second half was about as complete as we played. We were pretty good at both ends."

The game shaped up as a contrast of styles: the slick, speedy athleticism that carried the Jayhawks to the Big 12 title against the bruising, post-dominated play of the Boilermakers.

Purdue promptly stunned a sold-out Sprint Center by hoisting up early 3-pointers.

Their underrated guards took advantage of constant double-teams of Swanigan and Haas in the paint, letting loose a barrage of deep shots. By the time Kansas realized the game had started, Painter's team had raced to a 25-18 lead midway through the first half.

The Jayhawks eventually found their footing, and the crowd that showed up a mere 40-minute drive from their campus in Lawrence provided the soundtrack to a 22-7 run to end the half.

Things got so loud inside the downtown arena that Painter, who always maintained Kansas earned the right to the quasi-home game, resorted to scribbling offensive sets on a dry erase board.

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