KU defeated Chaminade to advance in the Maui Invitational. Photo courtesy kuathletics.com
LAHAINA, Hawaii – No. 4/5 Kansas (4-1) will look to punch its ticket to the championship game of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational when the Jayhawks meet BYU in the tournament semifinals on Tuesday.
The Jayhawks and Cougars are slated to tip-off inside the Lahaina Civic Center at 9:30 p.m. (CT) on ESPN. Dan Shulman (play-by-play) and Jay Bilas (analyst) will call the action.
TIP-OFF
Kansas is participating in its seventh Maui Jim Maui Invitational and has a combined record of 16-6 in the event. The Jayhawks are 3-0 mark in campus round games and a 13-6 record in Maui.
With its 93-63 win against Chaminade (11/25, Kansas has won its opening-round game of the Maui Invitational in six of the seven Maui invites it has participated.
Kansas has won two Maui Invitationals in 1996 and 2015, its last appearance in the event. Kansas has won four straight Maui Invitational games and six of its last seven games at Lahaina Civic Center.
Kansas and BYU are meeting for the fifth time in men’s basketball and the first time since the 1993 NCAA Tournament, a KU 90-76 win in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Chicago. KU leads the series 3-1.
Kansas has won its last five in-season tournaments with the 2015 Maui Invitational included in the run. The streak started with the 2014 Orlando Classic, then the 2015 Maui Invitational, the 2016 CBE Classic, the 2017 HoopHall Miami Invitational and the 2018 NIT Season Tip Off.
Kansas is 3-0 in Allen Fieldhouse this season and has a 24-game homecourt winning streak, which is third-longest nationally behind Tennessee (28) and Gonzaga (26).
Kansas is ranked No. 4 in the Nov. 25 Associated Press national poll. KU has been ranked in the top-five 340 times overall and 134 times in the Bill Self era.
KU has been ranked in each of the last 204 AP polls dating back to 2008-09. The 204-consecutive weeks in the polls is the longest active streak in the nation. KU holds the same streak in the coaches’ poll at 212.
Kansas head coach Bill Self is 684-212 in his 27th season overall as a head coach. He is four games from being the 30th active coach in the NCAA to have coached in 900 games.
THE KU-BYU SERIES
Kansas holds a 3-1 series advantage against BYU. The four-game series started in 1959 with KU defeating BYU, 96-64, on Dec. 19 in Manhattan, Kansas. BYU won the following year, 80-70, in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 20, 1960. The Jayhawks won game three, 83-67, on Dec. 17, 1971, in Allen Fieldhouse and KU won the last meeting, 90-76, in the 1993 NCAA Midwest Regional in Chicago.
UP NEXT
Kansas will play either Dayton or Virginia Tech in the championship or third-place game of the 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational. The Jayhawks are 1-1 all-time against Dayton and have never met Virginia Tech on the basketball court.
The Jayhawks have a combined 16-6 record in the Maui Invitational, including 13-6 in games played in Maui. KU has won two of the titles in 1996 and 2015.
--kuathletics.com--