AUSTIN, Texas -- Kansas didn't have a whole lot to play for Saturday when it met reeling Texas, but the No. 3 Jayhawks went ahead and took care of business anyway, garnering a 77-67 victory over the Longhorns in a Big 12 game at the Frank Erwin Center.
Josh Jackson scored 18 points to lead three teammates in double figures as Kansas (26-3, 14-2 Big 12) clinched the outright Big 12 championship with two regular-season games remaining. Kansas won its 13th straight league title, 17th Big 12 championship overall and an NCAA-leading 60th all-time conference regular-season title. "Pretty workmanlike -- it was a nice win," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "I thought today was going to be our hardest game as far as energy level and that we might have been a little lethargic because we've been on an emotional rollercoaster. The real euphoria of winning the title came in our last game, but it's nice not to have share.
"Our energy level was good early -- we played a good 15 minutes and Texas played well for five minutes in the first half. Then we really just traded baskets in the second half."
Frank Mason III added 16 points for the Jayhawks, who dominated in bench scoring (21-9), points off turnovers (28-13) and points in the paint (40-30). Devonte Graham and Dwight Coleby had 12 points apiece for Kansas, which won its seventh straight game.
"We never had a doubt in our minds (that we were not going to win the conference title)," Graham said. "Our main focus in this game was to not come out flat. We wanted to have energy and to get the job done, to win the title outright. I think we were successful. Coach just keeps building the confidence in us, the free mind to shoot when we have the open shot and things like that."
Jarrett Allen recorded a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds for Texas (10-19, 4-12), which lost its fifth straight and seventh in the last nine outings. In two games against the Jayhawks this season, Allen averaged 21 points and 15 rebounds.
"I was fired up but the game didn't go as planned," said Allen, who decided to play for his hometown team rather than for Kansas, which recruited him heavily. "Kansas is a great team, but eventually someone is going to take them down. We have to learn to play hard every minute of the game -- you can see Kansas is into it all the time."
Andrew Jones added 18 points for the Longhorns, whose 19 losses are the most since the 1997-98 season.
A 14-1 run by Kansas in the middle of the first half turned a one-point Texas lead into a 13-point advantage for the Jayhawks with 4:44 to play before halftime.
Coleby had two dunks and two free throws in that surge and led Kansas with 10 points in the first half. He was 4 of 5 from the floor in the half as the Jayhawks outshot Texas 48.4 percent to 40.7 percent, helping Kansas to a 40-31 lead at intermission.
Allen led all scorers in the half with 13 points and five rebounds.
The Longhorns cut the Kansas lead to 56-51 on a 3-pointer by Jacob Young at the 10:39 mark of the second half but the Jayhawks responded with an 8-1 run to push their advantage to 64-52.
"Against Kansas you have to be aggressive and we were too timid to start the game," Texas coach Shaka Smart said. "If you want to win games like that you have to go right at people. We got away from the things we practiced on for this game in the first half, but we have to make sure our guys know that their best basketball is ahead of them."
NOTES:
-- Kansas' win allowed the Jayhawks to sweep Texas in basketball and football in the same academic season for the first time since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1994.
-- The Jayhawks hold a 29-8 lead in the series that dates back to a 36-34 Texas victory in Austin on Dec. 16, 1938. Kansas won the last seven meetings, with Texas' most recent win 81-69 in Austin on Feb. 1, 2014.
-- Kansas entered Saturday's game No. 1 in the RPI ratings. The Jayhawks' strength of schedule is sixth nationally.
