LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Milwaukee men's basketball team played an even second half at nationally-ranked Kansas, but couldn't overcome a tough start in falling, 95-68, Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
 
The Panthers (5-5) outscored the Jayhawks (8-1) by a 39-30 count to get back within striking distance at the 3:28 mark in the second half. The No. 2 team in the country then closed strong to account for the final margin.
 
"It was great coming in here and having the opportunity to play against a really good team," head coach Pat Baldwin said. "A tremendous effort by them [Kansas] – I think they took us by storm in the first 5-10 minutes of the game where we couldn't recover."
 
Darius Roy led MKE with a game-high 25 points, making 9-of-16 shots from the floor while adding four rebounds and three assists.
 
Te'Jon Lucas finished with 11 points, four rebounds and five assists.
 
Devon Dotson and Ochai Agbaji paced the home team with 22 points each. Udoka Azubuike added a double-double of 15 points and 17 rebounds as Kansas became just the second NCAA Division I team to record 300 victories in the decade.
 
"When you have a team like this with an inside presence that you have to account for and then they are making perimeter shots, it makes it really difficult to cover everything," Baldwin said. "But give our guys credit. We didn't lay down; we continued to fight in the second half. We played much better and the shots started falling for us, but it was just too much to overcome."
 
Down at the break, Milwaukee came out of the locker room with a 7-1 spurt to force a timeout at 53-34.
 
The Panthers then trimmed the deficit to under 20 at 73-54 on a pair of free throws from C.J. Wilbourn at the 7:17 mark and forced another Jayhawk timeout on a Lucas layup that made it 80-62. The offense stayed hot and connected on 5-of-6 from the floor, eventually getting it down to 16 points at 82-66 before Kansas regained control the rest of the way.
 
The Jayhawks were connecting on everything at the start, scoring the first 11 of the contest while also drilling eight of their first 13 from long-range to build a substantial advantage. The Panthers never gave in, holding tough before the second-half pushback.
 
Kansas ended the night at 54.2 percent (32-of-59) from the floor, with MKE ending at 36.4 percent (24-of-66). Rebounding was huge for the home team, ending in a 45-27 advantage that included a 21-9 edge in second-chance points.
 
Up next, the Panthers are back in town for the only home game in the month of December, welcoming Eastern Illinois to UWM Panther Arena Saturday. Game time for the Panther/Panther affair is set for 7 p.m.