Svi Mykhailiuk makes start count as Jayhawks down Davidson 89-71

Back in the starting lineup for the first time since his freshman season, Kansas junior Svi Mykhailiuk made the most of the opportunity against Davidson on Saturday night at the Sprint Center.

“It felt good to start,” Mykhailiuk, a 6-foot-8, 205-pound junior shooting guard from Cherkasy, Ukraine, said after scoring 13 points, grabbing four rebounds and swiping three steals in the Jayhawks’ 89-71 victory over the Wildcats.

Mykhailiuk hit one of KU’s six threes (in 13 tries) in the final half as the Jayhawks (10-1) rallied from beyond the arc after going 0 for 8 in the first half and trailing the Atlantic 10 Conference school 43-42 at the break.

“I play the same way. It doesn’t matter to me if I start or not,” Mykhailiuk, who had six starts his freshman season, added after opening in place of Lagerald Vick, who converted two threes in the second half and scored eight points.

KU coach Bill Self explained the reason for the switch.

“I think Svi is on an uptick. Lagerald has done nothing wrong. I just don’t think he’s playing as well, giving us as much energy,”Self said of Vick, a 6-foot-5 sophomore who started the previous five games with Self going to a four-guard lineup.

“I didn’t think Lagerald was into it at all the first half, at all. That hurt us,” added Self, especially miffed that Vick lost a rebound to Nathan Ekwu, whose bucket to beat the first-half buzzer gave Davidson its narrow halftime lead. “Lagerald was active and played much better the second half, but Svi played well.”

Mykhailiuk was 1 of 5 on three-pointers, but 3 for 3 on two-point shots.

He also went 4 of 6 from the line after entering the game having shot six free throws and making just two all season.

“He was very aggressive,” Self said. “He’s driving it downhill a lot more. He was aggressive enough to get fouled.”

KU freshman guard Josh Jackson — who had 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting, sharing team-high scoring honors with Frank Mason (who added seven assists and six rebounds in 36 minutes), said Mykhailiuk “spreads the floor for us a lot, gives us space to drive the ball.”

Saturday’s game marked the return of sophomore forward Carlton Bragg from a one-game suspension. The 6-foot-10 Bragg grabbed eight rebounds to go with his seven points in 18 minutes. He hit three free throws midway through an 18-4 run that turned a 58-58 tie into a 76-62 KU lead with 6:02 left.

Davidson, which led by five points at 49-44 a minute and a half into the final half, was outscored 47-28 in the final 20 minutes. KU led by as many as 12 the first half, at 29-17.

“I thought Carlton played well. He got eight rebounds in a short amount of time,” Self said of Bragg, who grabbed five of his boards in the final half.

Bragg also had five points the second half. He went 2 of 4 from the field and 3 of 4 from the line.

“I think he believed in himself,” Mason said of Bragg. “He had confidence coming into the game. He didn’t really play well the first half. We told him in the locker room to stay aggressive and stay confident. That’s exactly what he did. We’re happy to have him back out here as part of the team.”

Bragg was not made available for comment after the game.

Self also applauded the play of senior forward Landen Lucas, who scored eight points and grabbed eight boards in 21 minutes. Lucas had four points and two rebounds in the final 20 minutes. His dunk off a lob from Devonté Graham (10 points, three steals, three assists in 32 minutes) actually busted the 58-58 tie and started the flurry that saw KU outscore Davidson 31-13 to end the game.

“Doke didn’t play bad,” Self said of freshman forward Udoka Azubuike, who scored five points with no boards in 7 minutes. Azubuike played just 2 minutes the final half.

“He just got two fouls early (in the first 5 minutes). If you start Doke the second half, he gets his third and is done for a while (so Lucas started the half). I thought we’d delay him getting his third foul at least a couple minutes. It only took two minutes after he got back in there to get his third one.

“I thought Landen was really good. All our bigs were OK. If you look at Carlton and Doke and Mitch (Lightfoot, two points in four minutes) and Landen, that’s 22 points and 16 rebounds in 50 minutes. We’ll be pretty good if we can get production (out of bigs).”

KU will next meet UNLV at 8 p.m. Thursday in Las Vegas.

Brave fans

The crowd was listed as 17,820 on a bitterly cold, snowy night.

“I know it was not a huge crowd, 11,000 people in here in this weather — wow. That’s some loyal supporters there,” Self said. “To brave these elements to come out to watch a basketball game, I just hope everybody gets home safe.”

Mason tough on defense

Self singled out Mason for his work guarding Davidson guard Jack Gibbs, the country’s No. 4-leading scorer at 24.3 points per game, who had 12 points on 3-of-14 shooting (2 of 7 from three). Davidson hit 10 of 27 threes to KU’s 6 of 21.

“Frank probably was as average as he’s been (4 of 13 from field, 2 of 6 from three, but 8 of 9 from line on a night KU hit 17 of 24 free throws), but the kid he’s guarding is averaging 24 a game and Frank holds him to 3 of 14. He gets 18 himself, seven assists, six rebounds,” Self said.

Davidson’s take

Junior forward Peyton Aldridge, who went 5 of 10 from three, had 22 points for Davidson.

Of the game, Davidson coach Bob McKillop said: “They just annihilated us in the paint, in second-chance points and they annihilated us in transition. They really capitalized in all of those areas. After the 15- or 16-minute mark we had built the lead to five.

“They got two or three tip outs. The one that sticks out is when they got an offensive rebound and then got a three out of it (to make it 50-49 on a three by Mason following rebounds by Jackson, Mykhailiuk and Mason). On back to back possessions they made threes (by Jackson and Mason).”

KANSAS 89, DAVIDSON 71

TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers

Percentages: FG .429, FT .650. Three-Point Goals: 10-27, .370 (Aldridge 5-10, Gibbs 2-7, Michelsen 1-1, Gudmundsson 1-2, Magarity 1-5, Kovacevic 0-2). Team Rebounds: 1. Blocked Shots: 1 (Magarity). Turnovers: 13 (Gibbs 3, Aldridge 2, Ekwu 2, Magarity 2, Gudmundsson, Michelsen, Reigel, Watkins). Steals: 4 (Magarity 2, Ekwu, Gudmundsson). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: None.

TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers

Percentages: FG .485, FT .708. Three-Point Goals: 6-21, .286 (Vick 2-4, Mason 2-6, Jackson 1-3, Mykhailiuk 1-5, Graham 0-3). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 5 (Graham 2, Jackson, Lucas, Vick). Turnovers: 6 (Mason 3, Mykhailiuk 2, Azubuike). Steals: 10 (Graham 3, Mykhailiuk 3, Jackson 2, Bragg, Mason). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: None.

Half: Davidson 43-42. Att: 17,820.

This story was originally published December 17, 2016 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Svi Mykhailiuk makes start count as Jayhawks down Davidson 89-71."