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National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Kansas 67, Texas Tech 58
When: 12:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 27, 2016
Where: Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas
Officials: # Joe DeRosa, # Kipp Kissinger, # Terry Oglesby
Attendance: 16300

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Concerns arise, even with the incredible string of 12 consecutive Big 12 basketball championships Kansas clinched Saturday by beating Texas Tech 67-58.

"I hope our fans appreciate it, because sometimes, consistency can be boring," Kansas coach Bill Self said.

Practically everyone who comprised the sellout of 16,300 in Allen Fieldhouse stayed to watch the Jayhawks cut down the nets. The win also extended the nation's longest homecourt streak to 41 games.

Still, it was the conference title that preserved one of the most amazing streaks in all of sports and it was achieved in a year when the Big 12 is widely considered the best basketball league in the country. The No. 2 Jayhawks even claimed at least a share of the crown with two conference games remaining, while improving to 25-4 overall and 13-3 with their ninth straight victory.

"Every team in the country has a goal of winning their league. Don't let anybody kid you," Self said. "There's a bigger goal of winning a national tournament, obviously. But up until now there's nothing bigger than to win your conference in the regular season.

"We emphasize it, but we didn't emphasize it to win 12. We emphasized it to win one. The guys did it. But sometimes when people talk about winning 12, I wish they'd talk about winning one, because this is a pretty special effort by these guys when they were 5-3 (to begin Big 12 play)."

Tubby Smith, who coached Texas Tech past the .500 mark in the Big 12 with five straight wins coming in, deflected attention he has received for coach of the year honors. Instead, he said a streak of 12 straight conference titles may never be achieved again, unless of course Kansas keeps ruling the Big 12.

"I doubt it. I didn't think we'd see it done now," Smith said. "I think Bill Self should be (Big 12) coach of the year. There's been some banter about me, but look at what he?s done."

Sophomore guard Svi Mykhailiuk came off the bench to lead the Jayhawks with 17 points, going 5-for-5 from 3-point range.

Junior guard Frank Mason was the only Kansas starter to net double figures, scoring 16 while going 3-for-5 on 3-pointers. Junior forward Landen Lucas scored the Jayhawks' first five points, then finished with seven while adding a team-high eight rebounds.

The Red Raiders (18-10, 8-8) were led by a 3-point threat of their own.

Senior guard Toddrick Gotcher scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Sophomore forward Justin Gray snagged 14 rebounds to help Texas Tech gain a 38-34 advantage on the boards.

"We did play well defensively," Gotcher said. "We went to a zone and got a lot of steals and deflections, then we got to the free throw line at the end of the game."

Indeed, the Red Raiders went 11 of 12 from the foul line in the second half, while the Jayhawks made it there just once and made both attempts. A 12-0 run early in the half, however, enabled Kansas to widen an eight-point halftime lead, which was posted after Mykhailiuk canned a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer.

"The last three, four games I found my shot and started playing with more confidence," said Mykhailiuk, a Ukrainian who scored in double figures for just the second time in Big 12 play.

Texas Tech countered with 10 unanswered second-half points of its own and trimmed the lead to seven, but could not get any closer while shooting just 31.6 percent.

"We turned the ball over 14 times and you can't do that against any team, much less against Kansas on the road," Smith said. "We made some errors there. We haven't really been taking care of the ball lately. So those are things I'm disappointed about."

The Red Raiders, who had a five-game win streak snapped, managed a 10-0 spurt, but only got as close as seven points the rest of the way.

A 3-point shooting contest erupted in the first half as Gotcher connected for four 3-pointers to exceed his team-high 10.9-point average for the Red Raiders. No one other than Gotcher scored in double figures for Texas Tech.

The Jayhawks answered behind Mykhailiuk, who went 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the first half.

"It's an amazing accomplishment, the continuous (Big 12) success," Kansas senior forward Perry Ellis said. "It's an honor. It feels great. Thinking about all the hard work and all the hours you put in and then it all pays off at the end. It's just a relief and an exciting time."

NOTES: The 12-year string of conference titles for Kansas is one short of the all-time mark of 13 set by UCLA from 1967-79. ... The league championship was the 59th in Kansas history, the most of any Division I program. ... The Jayhawks, who have never lost in 16 home meetings against Texas Tech, won their 14th in a row in the series and stand 31-4 all-time against the Red Raiders. ... Tech coach Tubby Smith was attempting to even his three-year record with the Red Raiders, but dipped to 45-47 with the loss. ... The Red Raiders, considered to be a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, came in with seven scorers averaging between 8.6 and 10.9 points. ... The five-game win streak Texas Tech carried into the game included wins over three ranked opponents.
Top Game Performances
 
Texas Tech   Kansas
Toddrick Gotcher 20 Scoring Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk 17
Keenan Evans 5 Assists Devonte' Graham 4
Zach Smith 14 Rebounds Landen Lucas 8
Keenan Evans 7 Free Throws Made Landen Lucas 3
Keenan Evans 3 Steals Devonte' Graham 2
Matthew Temple 1 Blocks Cheick Diallo 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Texas Tech 58 31.6 6-16 16-18 10 38 2 10 14
Kansas 67 44.4 9-21 10-15 14 33 4 6 14