From April 5th:

KU Knocks Out North Carolina

The Kansas Jayhawks were unkind to an old friend on Saturday night. Facing their former coach, KU used a fisrt half blitz of 31-6 to grab an 84-66 victory in the second game of the Final Four.

It was the first time the Jayhawks had to face off against Roy Williams since the coach left the school to take his dream job at North Carolina.

KU came out smoking while building a 40-12 lead with a little over 6 minutes left in the first half. However, UNC made a 15-4 run to close out the half. Still KU went into the locker room feeling pretty good about themselves. They held a 44-27 lead.

North Carolina continued their comeback in the second half. UNC used a 13-0 run in the second half to trim the KU lead to just four points with the score 54-50. The KU faithful in the stands were in shock. However, the Jayhawks regained their composure. With KU holding a slim 67-61 lead, the Jayhawks began to put the game away. Brandon Rush scored a bucket and then found Darnell Jackson for an alleyoop to push the lead to 10.

The Jayhawks never lost control again. They finished the game with a 17-5 run. The win gave Kansas a school record 36 wins on the season. Kansas will be making its 8th appearance in the National Championship. They will be facing the Memphis Tigers who have only lost one game this season.

Brandon Rush had 25 points and 7 rebounds. Darnell Jackson scored 12 points. Mario Chalmers had 11 points, 3 assists and 3 steals. Sherron Collins came off the bench to score 11. Darrell Arthur had only 6 points, but had 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. Cole Aldrich contributed off the bench with 8 points, 7 boards and 4 blocks.