• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Oakland, Mich.-Kansas Preview

Nov 24, 2009 - 7:39 PM By TOM CASTRO STATS Senior Editor

Oakland (2-2) at Kansas (3-0), 8:00 p.m. EDT

Despite a 50-point win in Kansas' latest outing, coach Bill Self wasn't thrilled with everything he saw from the nation's top-ranked team.

With the deep and talented Jayhawks still rounding into form, Self and Kansas may also have to deal with some rust as they host Oakland, Michigan in the third game of the Hall of Fame Showcase on Wednesday night.

Kansas (3-0) has been idle since pounding Central Arkansas 94-44 on Thursday night. The Jayhawks scored 23 straight points in the first half, shot 57 percent and had seven turnovers for their 43rd win in a row at Allen Fieldhouse - the longest active home win streak in the nation.

Marcus Morris, Xavier Henry, Sherron Collins and Tyrel Reed each scored a team-high 12 points in limited duty, while nine Jayhawks scored at least seven. Kansas went 11 of 19 from 3-point range.

The victory was an easy one after Kansas held off Memphis 57-55 last Tuesday in its previous game, but Self wasn't completely satisfied. He was particularly unhappy with his team's rebounding effort, as the Jayhawks were beaten 38-36 on the boards.

"I thought we did some good things," Self told the school's official Web site. "I thought for the most part our defense was pretty good. Rebounding stunk."

Kansas now heads into its first matchup with Oakland, a Summit League team, after a five-day break.

"Oakland's pretty good. If I'm not mistaken, they won their league last year and they had North Dakota State beat in the championship game, or that probably would have been our opponent in the first round (of the NCAA tournament)," Self told the school's Web site.

"They're good and it will be a good test for us and we need to get better. Fortunately for us we've got some time to tighten a few things up and we've got plenty to tighten up, but I thought tonight was OK."

Oakland will face a Jayhawks squad that is led by star freshman Henry, averaging 16.7 points, and Collins, a senior who is scoring 15.7 per game. Kansas has outscored opponents by 29.3 points per contest and shot 51.8 percent from the field.

The Grizzlies (2-2) are coming off a 77-56 victory over Tennessee Tech on Monday, their second straight win. Derick Nelson scored 20 points, Keith Benson had 17 and 10 rebounds and Johnathon Jones added 14 points for Oakland, which took control in the second half with a 14-0 run.

"They made a run on us early (in the second half) and then we played great basketball," coach Greg Kampe said. "The key was our defense, they scored just 23 points in the second half."

Benson averages team-highs 16.3 points and 10.3 rebounds, while Nelson is at 14.8 and 7.3. Jones is contributing 13.8 points a game.

Oakland went 1-19 in its last 20 games against Top 25 opponents, although the Grizzlies did knock off then-No. 23 Oregon on Dec. 22, 2007. They last faced a top-ranked team in a 74-53 loss at UCLA on Dec. 16, 2006.