Oklahoma vs. Kansas: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Regular Season

Despite blowing a 19-point halftime lead, Kansas managed to hold on for an 85-78 win over Oklahoma on Monday night.  

This game was a tale of two halves as the Jayhawks were looking to bounce back from a loss to Iowa State just two days earlier. A great start helped them to forget about that defeat, but a miserable second half saw them on the verge of a complete meltdown.

This game can be summed up in two tweets by Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal:

The Jayhawks were still able to pull out a win, thanks to great performances from highly touted freshmen Kelly Oubre and Cliff Alexander. The first-year duo has been inconsistent this season, but Oubre came through with 19 points, nine rebounds and some huge buckets down the stretch, while Alexander added 13 points and 13 rebounds off the bench.

Perry Ellis had a strong day as well, with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Buddy Hield tried to will the Sooners to victory with 26 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Isaiah Cousins chipped in with 18 points to complement Ryan Spangler's 13 points and 10 rebounds, but that wasn't enough to emerge with the win. 

Kansas moved to 4-1 and into a tie for first place in the Big 12, while Oklahoma dropped to 3-3.

The start to the contest made it seem like it would be a blowout, thanks to some incredible shooting from the home team, via Rustin Dodd of The Kansas City Star:

While just about every aspect of the game was impressive, the outside shooting was worth the price of admission. Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports compared the team to another great shooting squad:

Kansas hit its first eight three-pointers of the game, including two each from Oubre, Brannen Greene and Devonte Graham.

Bleacher Report's C.J. Moore was certainly entertained by what he saw:

On the other hand, David Ubben of Fox Sports Southwest pointed out that Oklahoma wasn't even playing poorly:

The Sooners' strong play eventually started to work in their favor as they cut a 20-point deficit to 13, but the Jayhawks kept their rhythm and took a 51-32 halftime lead.

However, Oklahoma was not going away easily. The squad scored the first nine points of the second half and continued to make plays on both ends of the court.

Eric Bossi of Rivals.com gave his impression of the first few minutes:

As the Sooners inched closer with a 21-3 run, Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo Sports added his thoughts on the comeback:

They eventually tied the game at 56-56 on three-pointer from Hield with 11 minutes remaining. A minute later, a Hield free throw gave them their first lead of the game. 

Forde was impressed by the effort from the visiting team:

Kansas coach Bill Self was not happy with what he was seeing from his team, as Jesse Newell of The Topeka Capital-Journal noted:

Fortunately for the home team, the blown lead did not cause the players to panic. Kansas never trailed by more than four points, and the freshman tandem of Alexander and Oubre made big plays down the stretch to regain the lead.

After some missed three-point attempts, the Jayhawks sealed the win from the charity stripe.

ESPN's Jay Bilas discussed the mentality necessary to pull out such a victory: 

Both teams entered Monday with just one day of rest after competing on Saturday, although Kansas was in rougher shape after losing a road game to the Cyclones. Self talked about the necessity of bouncing back quickly, via Jesse Newell of The Topeka Capital-Journal:

"

Our league, in our bylaws, we’re not allowed to do this, play a Saturday night game and a Big Monday game, but something slipped through the cracks. It was a good atmosphere (Saturday), and I’m glad we were a part of it, but now, the real fun begins, trying to get your team back in a short turnaround when it’s kind of a deflating loss.

"

The Jayhawks' ability to respond with a win under less-than-ideal circumstances is certainly a good sign going forward.

They will now get some time to recover, but the games will not get much easier. The squad will travel to face Texas in its fourth straight matchup against a ranked opponent.

Oklahoma finds itself in a similar situation with a road game against Baylor, which will also be the Sooners' fourth ranked opponent in a row.

It's clear, just about every week in the Big 12 will feature a battle.

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