KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Spotting the opponent a 22-point lead always creates a difficult position.

When the opponent is one of the best teams in the nation, surviving such a start is nearly impossible.

That was the hole Alabama-Birmingham dug against No. 5 Kansas on Monday, and the Jayhawks emerged with an 83-63 victory in the second semifinal of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at Sprint Center.

"We were up 17-0, and the one shot we missed was an uncontested layup," Kansas coach Bill Self said after his squad built a 25-3 lead in the first 10 minutes. "We played well, and our defense was better."

The Jayhawks (3-1) will face Georgia in the championship game Tuesday night, while the Blazers will tangle with George Washington in the consolation game. The Bulldogs defeated the Colonials 81-73 in the first semifinal.

"That was a disappointing start for us, giving them the early lead," UAB coach Robert Ehsan said. "We had a tough time scoring. Give them a lot of credit. I thought they shot the ball extremely well. We were trying to play catch-up the whole time.

"I thought we showed some good fight for certain periods in the game. We cut it to five points, but we couldn't get over the hump. They're obviously one of the best teams in the country."

Coming out of the half with only a 39-30 lead, the Jayhawks scored the first nine points of the second half to open a 48-30 advantage. The Blazers answered with eight straight of their own, but that was as close as they would get.

"They made timely threes, (Frank) Mason made one and (Devonte') Graham made one at the end of the half," Ehsan said. "Those were kind of back-breakers. If they miss those, it's a three- or four-point game. I thought the energy and emotion was switched."

The Jayhawks led by as many as 24 points in the second half. They were led by Josh Jackson with 22 points. Mason had 20, Graham finished with 16 and Svi Mykhailiuk had 15.

UAB (2-2) was led by Dirk Williams with 13 points, followed by Tyler Madison with 12 and Tosin Mehinti with 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

"I think we played really well (at the start)," Graham said. "I think everybody came into the game focused on doing the little things we haven't been doing really well. We've just got to figure out how to put it together for a full half or a full game.

"As energetic as it was in the first 10 minutes, we kind of started cooling down."

The Jayhawks wasted no time in jumping to a big lead. Off the opening tip, Jackson grabbed the ball on the left wing, flew down the lane and threw down a dunk. On the next possession, Jackson fed Carlton Bragg on a nifty pass for a dunk.

Mason and Graham hit back-to-back 3-pointers before Jackson and Mason had layups to make the score 14-0 prior to the first media timeout. It wasn't until the 13:28 mark that Madison hit 1 of 2 free throws to break the shutout.

The Blazers did not score from the field until the 10:00 mark of the first half, when Chris Cokley connected from close range to make the score 25-5.

Even so, the Jayhawks had their struggles. They had nine turnovers in the first half, and they put the Blazers into the bonus at the 8:40 mark. Kansas went nearly five minutes without scoring, and UAB was able to trim the lead to 33-28 by the 1:36 mark. The Jayhawks connected on two late 3-pointers and went to the half up by nine.

"As good as we played in the first about eight minutes, we played that poorly for about eight minutes," Self said. "I think we were stuck on 25 for about six minutes or so. They played better, and we finished the half average. In the second half, we played consistently well, for the most part."

NOTES: Kansas is now 9-1 all-time in the CBE Classic. The Jayhawks' only loss was to Syracuse in the inaugural title game in 2008. ... UAB is 11-11 all-time against teams currently in the Big 12. ... Kansas is 32-6 all-time in Sprint Center.