Men's College Basketball

University of Kansas 87, Rider University 60

LAWRENCE, KANSAS— The University of Kansas campus is located on Mount Oread, the highest location in Lawrence.

Taking on the fifth ranked Kansas Jayhawks was an uphill battle from the start for the Rider Broncs, and proved to be a mountainous task.

Kansas (2-1) jumped out to a 10-2 lead, four points by Perry Ellis, and led 27-8 after 11 minutes of play on 10 points from Cliff Alexander. “We didn't start the game the right way, we didn't compete,” said Rider head coach Kevin Baggett.

Ellis finished with 17 points, while Alexander compiled 10 points in just 11 minutes off the bench. “Those are two talented players,” Baggett said, “but we didn't do a good enough job guarding them.”

Brannen Greene added 17 points for the Jayhawks.

“Give Kansas some credit, they played well,” Baggett said. “We knew we were coming into a buzz saw after the Kentucky game (Kansas lost to #1 Kentucky by 28 points).”

The Jayhawks led 51-22 at the half on 11 points by Ellis.

“We had some guys who just didn't show up tonight,” Baggett said.

Rider (2-2) and Kansas played even through most of the second half, as the Jayhawks maintained their comfortable lead but did not build on it. 

“We tried to challenge the guys at half time to come out with some pride,” Baggett said.

The Broncs responded by out-scoring the Jayhawks in the second half, 38-36.

For the Broncs, sophomore Xavier Lundy (Paulsboro, NJ/Paulsboro) scored a career-high 15 points, while compiling three rebounds and two steals in 13 minutes off the bench.  “Xavier is one of the guys who stepped up tonight,” Baggett said.

“We didn't have an answer for them tonight,” Lundy said of the five-time National champion Jayhawks.  “They played with a lot of energy and some of us did not play up to our abilities tonight.”

Rider junior Teddy Okereafor (London, England/VCU) added 10 points and four assists, while junior Zedric Sadler (Detroit, Mich/Cody) contributed nine points, three assists, three rebounds and a pair of steals. “I thought Zed gave us a good effort,” Baggett said. “Kansas did a good job focusing on Teddy, denying him the ball at times.”

The Broncs also held their own on the glass, as Kansas held a slight 33-31 advantage in rebounds.

This game was part of the eight-team Orlando Classic.

Rider will now travel to Orlando, Florida to take on #19 Michigan State Thanksgiving evening (6:30pm) on ESPN2 as part of the Orlando Classic, held at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex.

“We have another opportunity on Thursday to see if our guys will show up,” Baggett said. “Hopefully guys will be disappointed with the way they played tonight and will step up on Thursday. This is a good basketball team, we just didn't play like it tonight. This was certainly a teaching point for us.”

A teaching point on how to scale a mountain.

-ru-