Kansas upends Clemson in Omaha to join K-State in NCAA Elite Eight

Bill Self preferred to focus on the end result, a third straight berth in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight, rather than the negatives surrounding Kansas’ somewhat scary victory over Clemson in the Sweet 16 on Friday night at CenturyLink Center.

Yes, the Jayhawks’ lead of 20 points early in the second half shrunk to four during crunch time, but KU was able to hold on and win 80-76 .

“I am not going to worry about it,” said Self, KU’s 15th-year head coach. “I’ll think about how we got up 20 as opposed to how we almost gave it away.”

For the record, KU led Clemson 49-29 just 1 minute, 46 seconds into the final half. But that lead dipped to four points, 78-74, with 14 seconds remaining.

“We didn’t finish the game very well at all,” Self said. “The last 10 minutes, I don’t think we played very well at all. We were playing not to lose as opposed to trying to close them out. But we did enough.

"And certainly,” he added, with a smile, “nobody can say we've played our best game yet. Hopefully that will come Sunday.”

The No. 1-seeded Jayhawks (30-7) may have wobbled late, but they advanced to Sunday’s Midwest Regional final against Duke at 4:05 p.m. on CBS. The winner of that game will move into the Final Four semifinals a week from Saturday in San Antonio.

In looking at the big picture, the Jayhawks, who have fallen short of the Final Four the past two seasons, losing Elite Eight contests to Villanova and Oregon as the Midwest’s No. 1 seed, can take solace in the fact that they appear to be whole for the first time in a long time.

Sophomore center Udoka Azubuike, who sprained a left knee ligament on March 6 and played just three minutes against Penn in the first round of the tourney and 22 against Seton Hall in the second, scored 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting against No. 5 seed Clemson (25-10). The 7-footer grabbed 11 rebounds with two blocks in 25 minutes against the Tigers.

Freshman backup Silvio De Sousa contributed nine points and six rebounds in 13 productive minutes. Azubuike fouled out, while De Sousa committed three fouls. Mitch Lightfoot played just two minutes, Self indicating it was because De Sousa was performing so well.

“He (Azubuike) makes everything easier for us,” said KU senior point guard Devonté Graham, who scored 16 points, grabbed five rebounds and had four assists while playing 35 minutes — five less than usual because of foul problems (four).

“We get to play off of him. We always say, ‘Throw the ball inside. Play around Doke,’ because it’s hard to guard him inside and he can get angles easily. And he opens up shots for us and driving lanes."

Sophomore guard Malik Newman, who scored 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, agreed that having Azubuike healthy makes all the difference for KU’s offense.

“Doke is a guy we can throw the ball into and he can go get a basket,” Newman said. “His passing is underrated. When we’re able to throw it in and the defense collapses on him, he is able to kick it out and find an open shooter. It just opens up the whole game for us.”

Newman made four of his seven three-point attempts on a night KU hit 10 of 22 as a team. The Jayhawks shot 46.7 percent overall to Clemson’s 43.1. The Tigers were led by Gabe DeVoe’s 31 points on 10-of-17 shooting.

Azubuike and De Sousa combined for 16 points and nine rebounds in the first half as KU blazed to a 13-point halftime advantage.

KU led 35-27 with 1:02 left in the half when Clemson’s Elijah Thomas was called for a Flagrant 1 foul for pushing De Sousa in the head. De Sousa hit two free throws and KU’s Lagerald Vick knocked down a three on the ensuing possession.

The Jayhawks' 13-point halftime lead ballooned to 20, 49-29, when Vick, Newman and Graham each made three-pointers early in the second half.

“We know we are going to have to shoot 30 threes Sunday,” Self said, “because we know whoever we play is going to play zone.”

Duke, which beat Syracuse 69-65 on Friday, played a lot of zone defense this season.

“We are going to have to execute a heck of a lot better against the zone than we did when Clemson went zone tonight,” Self said.

Jayhawks senior Svi Mykhailiuk said KU will embrace Sunday’s contest.

“It feels great reaching this game three years in a row,” said Mykhailiuk, who scored nine points with four assists. “Everyone feels good and I don’t think anyone is too tired.”

This story was originally published March 23, 2018 at 8:44 PM with the headline "Kansas upends Clemson in Omaha to join K-State in NCAA Elite Eight."