Written by Cliff Brunt at ABCsports.com
Devonte’ Graham scored a career-high 27 points and did a tenacious job defending Buddy Hield to help No. 6 Kansas defeat No. 3 Oklahoma 76-72 on Saturday.
Graham made 6 of 9 3-point attempts for the Jayhawks (21-4, 9-3 Big 12), who swept the regular-season series. Kansas won the first meeting 109-106 in triple overtime on Jan. 4.
Hield, who scored 46 points in the first meeting, scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half for Oklahoma. Isaiah Cousins added 21 points for the Sooners (20-4, 8-4), who fell out of a tie for the conference lead.
It was Kansas’ fifth straight win, and it snapped Oklahoma’s 19-game home winning streak. Kansas was coming off a win over No. 10 West Virginia on Tuesday.
Oklahoma matched a season-low by shooting 33.3 percent from the field. The Sooners, who entered the game leading the nation in 3-point percentage, made just 10 of 32 from beyond the arc.
Oklahoma trailed 73-71 and called a timeout with 32.1 seconds remaining. Hield made the first of two free throws with 25.3 seconds to go, and Kansas rebounded the miss.
Graham made two free throws with 19 seconds to play to put Kansas up three. Oklahoma’s Cousins shot a quick 3-point attempt that missed, and Kansas’ Jamari Traylor made the second of two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to put it out of reach.
Kansas ran out to a 20-6 lead as the Sooners made just two of their first 19 shots. Hield didn’t score until 9:04 remained in the first half.
Perry Ellis committed his second foul with 4:51 left in the first half and went to the bench with the Jayhawks leading 32-19. Oklahoma closed the half on a 14-6 run to make it 38-33.
The Sooners shot just 26.7 percent from the field in the first half and made 2 of 13 3-point attempts, but they made 15 of 18 free throws.
Hield, the nation’s No. 2 scorer, was held without a field goal in the first half on 0-for-6 shooting, but he made all six free throws.
Kansas shot 53.6 percent in the first half but committed eight turnovers.
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