KU handles K-State, crowd with 74-71 win on the road

Kansas basketball players Devonté Graham, Mitch Lightfoot and Frank Mason walked through the south tunnel of Bramlage Coliseum onto the court to a chorus of boos from thousands of purple-clad Kansas State students at 6:39 p.m. Monday — about an hour and a half before tipoff for the Sunflower Showdown.

Graham hoisted three halfcourt shots and missed them all, to the delight of Wildcat fans who were armed with signs that included, “Svi’s Walk of Shame,” referring to KU’s Svi Mykhailiuk taking extra steps before hitting a game-winning layup in the Jayhawks’ 90-88 win over K-State on Jan. 3 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Perhaps motivated — or at least focused — in a hostile atmosphere, the No. 3 Jayhawks’ nine eligible scholarship players (including Carlton Bragg, who had been taken off indefinite suspension by coach Bill Self earlier in the day) stormed to a 74-71 victory over a Wildcats team (16-8, 5-6 Big 12) that had defeated No. 2 Baylor on Saturday in Waco, Texas. KU, which was coming off a home loss to Iowa State on Saturday, improved to 21-3 and 9-2.

“I’ll be honest, the crowd helped us win the game. There’s no doubt about that,” Self said after a game in which the man who received the most jeers, Mykhailiuk, hit the shot that put KU ahead for good. His three with 2:32 left busted a 63-63 tie and KU did not trail again.

“That’s all we talked about, was use their (fans’) energy to give you energy. We even talked about different scenarios and how it was going to help us. And I think it did. I think their crowd energized our guys. I think they really enjoyed playing here today,” Self added.

No doubt about that.

“We always expect them to get on us when we get here,” said Mykhailiuk, who finished with eight points on a night Frank Mason tallied a game-high 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting. Mason hit 5 of 6 free throws as the Jayhawks made 12 of 18 to K-State’s 11 of 17. Both teams hit eight threes. The Wildcats had four double-figure scorers, with Dean Wade’s 20 points leading the way.

Of his big three, which came off a pass from Josh Jackson — who contributed 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting — Svi said simply: “I would say it was a big shot because it was a tie game.”

Self gave it a huge thumbs-up.

“It was the biggest shot of the game. That was big,” Self said emphatically, noting Mykhailiuk benefited from a great pass from freshman guard Jackson.

“Svi was wide open. Any time Svi is open you give him the ball,” Jackson stated.

Also for KU, Graham had 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists. He said he received an emotional lift from the fans.

“We did take their energy and helped (make) it flow to the team,” Graham said.

As for Bragg, who returned from three-game suspension … Self thought the 6-10 sophomore’s six-point, three-rebound, 11 minute outing gave a big lift to the team.

“I thought he did fine. To be honest, I thought he gave us some great minutes the first half,” Self said.

Bragg’s six points in 9 minutes helped the Jayhawks dig out of an early 20-8 hole and lead 37-35 at halftime.

Self told reporters he felt a three-game suspension for Bragg for violation of team rules was “enough.” Self had no further comment.

“It’s great to have him back. He gave us good energy,” Graham said. “He got some big buckets (on 3-of-4 shooting). He played well on defense.”

Bragg injured his ankle in the second half, but did return to the game. Self said the injury was not believed to be serious.

“I think all that pressure was on him this game, he settled in. He’ll be good. Nothing but up from here,” Graham said of his teammate.

As far as one of the biggest turning points of the game, Mason followed Mykhailiuk’s big three with two free throws and Jackson made one, giving KU a 69-63 lead with 1:45 left.

K-State whittled the lead to 72-69 on a three by Kamau Stokes (16 points), but Graham hit two free throws with 16.3 seconds left to up the lead back to five.

KU used a 10-3 run to grab a commanding 47-38 lead with 17:49 to play. Jackson opened that run with a pair of threes, followed by buckets by Landen Lucas (seven rebounds, seven points) and Mason.

However, K-State was far from finished, cutting the gap to 56-54 at 7:30, and regaining the lead at 60-59 on a Wade hoop with 4:21 left. Mason hit two free throws to put KU back on top at 61-60.

In the first half, Jackson had 11 points with three steals and three rebounds, while Mason had eight points and Bragg six with two rebounds in 9 minutes. Wade had 10 points, Stokes scored nine and Johnson and Iwundu added seven each for K-State.

The Jayhawks, who bounced back from Saturday’s loss at home to Iowa State, will play Texas Tech at 1 p.m. Saturday in Lubbock, Texas.

“I think this was an important victory regardless of what happened Saturday,” Self said. “Whenever you are coming off a loss there’s a little more pressure to get one. Our league is a monster,” Self added.

Duval to visit Duke

Trevon Duval, a 6-2 senior point guard from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., who attended the Kansas-Baylor game Wednesday as part of an official visit to KU, will visit Duke on Thursday.

Duval, the No. 3-ranked player in the recruiting Class of 2017 by Rivals.com, will attend the Blue Devils’ game against North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium. He also is considering Baylor, Arizona and Seton Hall.

Duke signees Wendell Carter and Gary Trent also will attend the game, along with Kevin Knox, an uncommitted guard from Tampa (Fla.) Catholic High, who is also considering North Carolina, Kentucky and Florida State.

“Kansas was great. They treated me well. They showed me all their facilities and everything that they had going and overall it was a good visit,” Duval told Zagsblog.com.

“I’ve never seen nothing like that before,” he added of Allen Fieldhouse. “The environment was amazing, you could barely hear the person next to you speaking, so it was great.”

Of possible playing time available at KU, Duval said: “Basically they need someone to come in and fill in Frank’s (Mason) job really.”

No. 3 KANSAS 74

KANSAS STATE 71

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Percentages: FG .482, FT .667. Three-Point Goals: 8-17, .471 (Jackson 2-3, Mykhailiuk 2-3, Graham 2-4, Mason 2-5, Vick 0-2). Team Rebounds: 5. Blocked Shots: 3 (Lucas 2, Coleby). Turnovers: 12 (Graham 4, Mason 4, Jackson 2, Lucas, Mykhailiuk). Steals: 7 (Jackson 3, Mason 2, Lucas, Mykhailiuk). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: None.

TableStyle: SP-bkwideplayersCCI Template: SP-bkwideplayers

Percentages: FG .382, FT .647. Three-Point Goals: 8-22, .364 (Stokes 5-14, Wade 3-3, Iwundu 0-1, Brown 0-2, Sneed 0-2). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 7 (Johnson 3, Wade 2, Ervin, Iwundu). Turnovers: 10 (Stokes 4, Brown 2, Iwundu 2, Johnson, Sneed). Steals: 9 (Sneed 3, Iwundu 2, Johnson 2, Ervin, Stokes). Technical Fouls: None. Fouled Out: None.

Half: Kansas 37-35. Att: 12,528.

This story was originally published February 6, 2017 at 10:39 PM with the headline "KU handles K-State, crowd with 74-71 win on the road."