Fresh off of a not-so-solid effort in a road loss at Arkansas, the Kansas men's basketball team closed out exhibition play on Tuesday night with a much better showing in front of its home fans.
KU drained 15 3-pointers and saw four players — all newcomers — reach double figures in scoring in an 84-53 win over Washburn and former KU guard Brett Ballard.
Combo guard David "Diggy" Coit stole the show early, knocking in three first-half 3-pointers and finishing the night 5-of-10 from downtown, and fellow-transfers Zeke Mayo and Rylan Griffen got hot in the second half to lead KU to the easy win.
That trio combined to shoot 17-of-29 from the floor and was responsible for 13 of the Jayhawks' 15 3-point makes.
"It was good to see Zeke, Rylan and Diggy make some shots because that's what they're here to do," KU coach Bill Self said after the victory.
Self said Coit (19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range) got the start in place of Mayo (16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4 3-pointers) because the Lawrence native had not been aggressive in looking to shoot the ball in practice.
Self liked what he saw from Mayo against the Ichabods.
"I was probably as encouraged about him as much as anybody because he needed to see the ball go in the hole and it looked good tonight," the KU coach said.
Alabama transfer Rylan Griffen added 14 points off of four 3-pointers and freshman big man Flory Bidunga chipped in with 10 while starting in place of KU senior Hunter Dickinson.
Dickinson and transfer guard Shak Moore were held out of this one but Self said both could have played had this been a regular season game.
The top-ranked Jayhawks will tip off the 2024-25 season for real next Monday night, when Howard comes to Allen Fieldhouse for the regular season opener.
Tip time is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPN+
Here's a look back at some of Tuesday night's action.
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