Kansas Jayhawks pound Cyclones in Ames, don’t need to ‘sweat until the last second’
Fans started heading for the exits with 7:48 remaining in Wednesday night’s Kansas-Iowa State basketball game at Hilton Coliseum.
With KU up by 28 points and so little time to play, it was apparent the unranked Cyclones (7-7, 0-2) would not be storming to any come-from-behind victory.
Not on this night against a No. 3-ranked KU team (12-2, 2-0) that seemed intent on making up for last season’s 17-point setback in Ames.
“This was the only time I can ever remember, maybe it’s happened before, where we left out of here and we were not sweating until the last second. Or maybe they were celebrating with four minutes left, kind of like what they did last year,” KU coach Bill Self said after the Jayhawks finished a 79-53 victory and improved to 12-5 in Hilton in the 17-year Self era.
Devon Dotson scored 20 points with six assists and five rebounds, while Ochai Agbaji and David McCormack scored 16 points. Udoka Azubuike scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Jayhawks rolled to a 26-point victory, biggest over ISU in Hilton in the Self era.
It was KU’s biggest win in Ames since a 29-point win by Roy Williams’ Jayhawks in the 2002-03 season. KU’s biggest win in Ames ever is a 33-pointer (50-17 on Jan. 17, 1919).
“We are much harder to guard whenever we can knock down 40 percent of our threes like today,” Self said after handing ISU its second-worst conference loss in Hilton history. The worst was that 29-point loss to Williams’ Jayhawks.
Agbaji was 4 of 5, Christian Braun 3 of 4 and Dotson 2 of 5 from three as KU finished 10 of 19 from beyond the arc to ISU’s 8 of 28 mark.
“I thought we executed,” Self said. “We ran more plays today I can remember running in a long time. Maybe we need to do more of that to try to make sure guys get touches in certain spots.”
KU committed just 12 turnovers. Overall the Jayhawks hit 51.9% of their shots to ISU’s 34.5.
“Everybody contributed,” Self said. “It was especially nice for us to see that without Marcus in the game. He’s been the glue for us. We played pretty well without one of our best players a while.”
KU had an early scare when junior guard Marcus Garrett (four points, three assists, three rebounds, 19 minutes) stepped on Azubuike’s foot with 12:27 left in the first half and KU up, 19-17.
Garrett injured his left ankle but walked to the locker room under his own power (with KU leading 19-17) with 12:27 left in the first half. He returned to the game with 1:54 left in the first half and KU up by a wide margin, 42-26.
Self said Garrett should be available for Saturday’s showdown against No. 4-ranked Baylor (noon, Allen Fieldhouse).
“I think he’s going to be OK. He didn’t want to go back in (second half with KU up big). Obviously he was hurting enough he didn’t want to go back in. I can’t imagine he won’t make a speedy recovery with Baylor on Saturday,” Self said.
Garrett and Agbaji were two Jayhawks who spent time guarding ISU standout Tyrese Haliburton, who scored five points on 2-of-7 shooting (1 of 5 from three).
“I don’t think he (Haliburton) is healthy first of all. I don’t know what’s wrong with his hand,” Self said of the sophomore guard, who missed a recent loss to Florida A&M because of a hand injury. “I don’t think he looked 100 percent healthy to me. I asked him after. He said he’ll be fine. Switches may hurt him a little bit. He didn’t get a chance to get many open looks off screens we switched so much. I thought our guys took a lot of pride in not letting him get open looks beyond the arc,” Self added.
Perhaps the signature play of the game was in the late going when McCormack (16 points, seven boards) forcibly dunked a miss from Dotson.
The one-handed jam shook the goal standard.
“I knew Dot was in the corner (ready to shoot). Nobody was boxing me out. I said, ‘Go follow it,’’’ McCormack said. “The question is, ‘Why not?’ Why not try to get a forceful dunk, do what I did the first half (eight points, four boards in helping KU to 20-point lead)?”
McCormack said “offensively it was one of our better games. Everybody was getting a touch, feels in the paint. Me and Doke and Silvio (De Sousa, two points, two boards, 15 minutes) all played to our stature, our strength to dominate the paint. It’s every big man’s dream when the guards hit shots. Then we have more space. It’s great.”
Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said, “when they are making them (threes) at that pace they are a tough out.”
KU used an impressive 21-3 run to stretch a 25-23 lead at 7:59 to 46-26 at halftime. Dotson opened the run with a free throw, followed by a bucket by Azubuike. Christian Braun and Dotson followed with threes. Azubuike then hit a bucket and free throw and Braun another three. McCormack had a bucket, Dotson and Azubuike a free throw apiece and Azubuike two more free throws to close the first half scoring.
Dotson had 11 points and four rebounds in the half while Azubuike had 10 points and six boards. Braun hit two threes as KU made 6 of 8 threes in the half to ISU’s 4 of 15. Jacobson had eight points for ISU. Haliburton missed three shots and did not score in the half. Garrett opened defensively on Haliburton.
KU led early by scores of 14-9, 19-17 and 21-19.
“When they are making them like that (threes) they are a tough out,” ISU coach Steve Prohm said.
Huggins fined
The Big 12 fined West Virginia coach Bob Huggins $10,000 on Wednesday for comments he made about the officiating after Saturday’s 60-53 loss at KU.
“I can’t control what those three blind mice running around out there do,” Huggins said Saturday on his postgame radio show.
Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said: “Coach Huggins’ comments following the West Virginia vs. Kansas basketball game violate the Big 12 Conference’s sportsmanship policy. Because this is coach Huggins’ third such incident, a public reprimand and a fine of $10,000 is appropriate.”
Game notes
KU leads the all-time series against Iowa State, 183-66. … KU is 27-22 all-time vs. Iowa State in Hilton Coliseum. KU has won three of its last six games in Hilton. … KU last opened 2-0 in the league in 2016-17. … KU is 16-1 in road league opening games under Self. … Self is 27-10 versus ISU as KU coach. Self’s KU teams are 12-5 in Hilton. … Self is 485-108 while at Kansas, 692-213 for his career. …Kansas is 2,287-861 all-time. … ISU is 6-3 at Hilton Coliseum this season. … Steve Prohm is in his fifth season at Iowa State and ninth overall as a head coach with a career mark of 194-89. … ISU is 53-19 under Prohm at Hilton. He is 4-6 versus KU including 2-3 at Hilton vs. KU. … The Cyclones have won 71 of their last 91 games at home, including 34 of 49 league games….
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 8:53 PM.
