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ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 15 seed Eastern Kentucky men's basketball team gave No. 2 seed Kansas all it could handle before falling to the heavily-favored Jayhawks, 80-69, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at the Scottrade Center.

EKU (24-10) pulled to within three points of KU (25-9), 64-61, on a jumper in the lane by junior Corey Walden with 3:39 to play. However, a three-point play by Jamari Traylor on the opposite end sparked a decisive 12-0 Jayhawks run that was capped by a thunderous Andrew Wiggins dunk that made it 76-64 with 44 seconds on the clock.

"I just told our team in the locker room that I am incredibly proud to be their coach and they have done a phenomenal job this season," head coach Jeff Neubauer said following the defeat. "The way they will be remembered is as champions."

Senior Glenn Cosey led EKU in the near-upset with 17 points, 14 of which came in a dazzling first-half performance. Senior Tarius Johnson and junior Eric Stutz contributed 15 points apiece. Walden, the MVP of the OVC Tournament and EKU's defensive stopper, was saddled with foul trouble the entire game and scored only four points before fouling out with 3:19 remaining.

The Colonels knocked down 12 three-pointers in the loss.

Wiggins paced five Jayhawks in double figures with 19 points. Kansas shot 60 percent (32-of-53) from the field and out-rebounded EKU, 43-19.

EKU led for most of the first half, as Cosey knocked down his first three three-point attempts to give the Colonels a quick 13-6 advantage.

After Kansas pulled to within two, 14-12, an offensive put-back by Johnson sparked a 9-2 run by EKU that ended when Cosey buried his fourth three-pointer to give the Colonels their largest lead of the first half, 23-14, with 8:45 on the clock.

Eastern led 27-20 with 4:22 remaining in the half, but Kansas used an 8-0 run to take the lead, 28-27, on a pair of free throws by Wiggins with 1:22 to play.

KU held that lead until senior Orlando Williams was fouled shooting a three-pointer in the waning seconds of the half. Williams converted two free throws to make it a tie game, 32-32, at the break.

EKU forced Kansas into 14 turnovers in the first half.

Kansas took a seven-point lead, 45-38, on a dunk by Tarik Black just over four minutes into the second half, but EKU did not back down. The Colonels responded with a 10-0 run and retook the lead, 48-45, when Johnson buried a three-pointer from the wing with 12:55 on the clock.

EKU's final lead came when senior Jeff Johnson connected on a three-pointer from the top of the key to make it 56-53 in favor of the Colonels with 9:13 to play. Traylor tied it with a three-point play on KU's next possession and the Jayhawks led the rest of the way.

Kansas turned the ball over only three times in the second half. The Jayhawks will advance to play No. 10 Stanford on Sunday.

NOTES
EKU made its eighth appearance in the NCAA Tournament.  The Colonels are now 0-8 all-time in the "Big Dance."

EKU's 24 wins are the second-most in program history.

Kansas freshman Andrew Wiggins had averaged 31 points in his previous three games.  On Friday against Eastern Kentucky Wiggins finished with 19 points.

Eastern entered the game with the second-best turnover margin in the nation (+6.3).  KU ranked 299 in the same category (-1.9).  The Jayhawks turn it over 13.2 times per game.  EKU finished with seven fewer turnovers than Kansas on Friday.

Eastern Kentucky's opponents have had at least 10 turnovers in every game this season.  Kansas had 14 turnovers.

Through the first 33 games this season, the Colonels had committed 208 fewer turnovers and out-scored their opponents by 277 points off turnovers (680-403).  Eastern Kentucky out-scored Kansas 19-9 off turnovers on Friday.

Against these six teams -- Illinois, West Virginia, North Carolina State, VCU, Wisconsin and Kansas -- combined the last two seasons, Eastern Kentucky has committed 19 fewer turnovers (65-84) and has out-scored these teams 89-65 off turnovers.

In 12 of its 34 games, EKU has had fewer than 10 turnovers, including just seven on Friday against Kansas.

With five 3-pointers against Kansas Glenn Cosey finished his senior season with 115 treys, third most in Ohio Valley Conference history.

Glenn Cosey finished his career tied for 26th on EKU's all-time scoring list with 1,077 points.

Kansas out-rebounded opponents by 7.3 boards per game, 10th best in the nation.  EKU was out-rebounded by 6.1 per game, 9th worst in the country.  The Jayhawks out-rebounded the Colonels by 24 on Friday.

EKU junior Eric Stutz entered the game shooting 65.6 percent from the field this season, third-best in Eastern history.  He made 5-of-9 shots against Kansas for 55.6 percent.

Entering the game, Kansas had allowed opponents to shoot 35.9 percent from three-point range.  The Colonels had knocked down 39 percent of their three-pointers (23rd in nation).  Eastern shot 38.7 percent from behind the arc on Friday.