A little more than a week ago, Kansas and Michigan State each lost marquee games to top ranked opponents. The Jayhawks were embarrassed by #1 Kentucky, while the Spartans got derailed by #4 Duke at the Champions Classic.
Now, days later, the two storied programs met up at Disney World with the Orlando Classic Championship at stake. In the end, the #11 Jayhawks clipped the #20 Spartans 61-56.
Perry Ellis scored 17 points and Ukrainian freshman Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk chipped in 11 to help lead Kansas, now 5-1. Frank Mason added 10 points in the low-scoring victory.
Kansas trailed 36-35 at the half before clamping down on the defensive end. The Jayhawks held the Spartans to only 20 second half points in front of the late Holiday crowd of nearly 5000, most of which were clad in the blue and red of Kansas.
The Jayhawks could not take advantage of the Spartans’ shooting woes in the second half, however, becoming ice cold themselves. For the game Kansas shot a meager 37% while Michigan State was even colder at just 32%.
Michigan State was paced by the 14 points of both Travis Trice and Denzel Valentine. The Spartans fell to 5-2 with the loss and will travel to Notre Dame on Wednesday to take part in the Big 10-ACC Challenge.
Kansas will host Florida in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge next Friday.
