No. 6 Kansas Too Much for UC Santa Barbara

Wayne Simien had the solution when Kansas struggled to score in the first half: rebound.

Simien had 15 points and 16 rebounds and Aaron Miles scored all 13 of his points in the second half as the No. 6 Jayhawks overcame 24% shooting from the field in the first half to beat UC Santa Barbara, 72-52, Saturday in the Wolf Pack Holiday Classic at Reno, Nev.

“When you are not shooting well, you’ve got to find other things to do,” said Simien, who had eight offensive rebounds.

“You get a lot of rebound opportunities when you shoot like that.”

Keith Langford scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half and freshman J.R. Giddens finished with 15 points for Kansas (6-1), which shot 62% from the field in the second half after leading only 24-18 at halftime.

“We guarded great in the first 20 minutes and we shot it miserably,” said Kansas Coach Bill Self, who sent the Jayhawks to the floor wearing bright crimson uniforms for the first time since the 1986 Final Four at Dallas.

Casey Cook scored a team-high 16 points for the Gauchos (5-3), who turned the ball over 26 times and shot 40% from the field in the game.

“If they would have made shots early, it could have been anyone’s ball game,” Self said. “We did a great job of attacking the zone in the second half.”

Miles had five steals and five assists for Kansas. He scored nine points during a 19-4 run to open the second half, including a steal and a layup to put Kansas up 43-22 at 13:13.

The closest Santa Barbara came after that was 64-48 on Jacoby Atako’s three-pointer with 3:13 left in the game.

CS Fullerton 83, Occidental 63 -- Pape Sow had 18 points and Anthony Bolton had 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Titans before 720 at Fullerton.

The Titans (4-4) used superior size and strength to dominate the undersized Tigers.

The 6-10 Sow and 6-7 Bolton helped the Titans out-rebound Occidental, 39-26, including a 19-6 advantage in offensive rebounds. Bolton’s 14 rebounds were a career high.

Evan Godfrey and Dallin Wilson had 15 points apiece to lead Occidental (6-2).

Southern Utah 60, Long Beach State 59 -- Rand Janes made a three-point shot with 23 seconds left to seal the win for Southern Utah before 1,204 at the Long Beach Pyramid.

Kevin Roberts and Marcel Jackson picked up a career-high 22 and 12 points respectively for the 49ers in the loss.

Roberts scored on a layup to give Long Beach State (1-5) a 59-57 lead with 37.7 seconds remaining, but Janes’ three proved to be too much as the 49ers could not convert a shot in the final seconds of the game.

Jason Baker led Southern Utah (4-4) with 26 points, going three for four from the three-point line. The Thunderbirds shot 56% for the game.

Sacramento State 64, UC Irvine 56 -- Brandon Guyton scored 12 points and Joseth Dawson chipped in with 10 off the bench at Sacramento to help the Hornets end UC Irvine’s two-game winning streak.

UC Irvine (4-4) was led by Mike Efevberha’s 11 points.

The Anteaters (4-4) have lost both their road games this year, the other being a 65-57 loss to California.

They have 14 days off before their next game on Jan. 3 against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Sacramento State (4-5) ended its four-game losing streak.

UC Riverside 108, Southern Oregon 57 -- Six UC Riverside players scored in double-digits in the first half at Riverside.

The Highlanders (2-4) allowed the Raiders (6-9), an NAIA school, to score the first four points of the game before UC Riverside turned on the offensive firepower, racing to a 25-point halftime lead.

Overall, UC Riverside shot 64.6% for the game.