Moments That Popped: No. 1 Kansas 75, No. 11 Duke 72

For a week, the question about this 1 vs. 11 matchup between blue bloods Kansas and Duke came down to whether KU’s experience or Duke’s youth would win the battle.

It was a classic matchup from start to finish, full of good moments and bad for both teams. And it certainly had one of those late-March feels to it, as well.

In the end, it was KU and that experience that held off the challenge from Duke, 75-72 in a thriller.

Two of the best players in the game were KU vets Dajuan Harris Jr. (14 points and 9 assists in 36 minutes) and KJ Adams (8 points and all kinds of winning plays that don’t show up on the stat sheet).

The Jayhawks, who led for 35:45 of this game, also did a more than admirable job on Duke phenom Cooper Flagg, the 17-year-old freshman, who finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists but also had 4 turnovers in 38 minutes.

Next up, KU (6-0) will return home for a Saturday game against Furman at Allen Fieldhouse. Duke fell to 4-2 with the loss, with its two losses coming in big-stage, high-intensity, marquee matchups against Kentucky and Kansas.

Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. on ESPN+ and the game will mark the debut of a new-look court at KU’s home venue.

The school announced on Tuesday that it had extended its long-standing partnership with FNBO Bank to include two FNBO logos on James Naismith Court at Allen Fieldhouse.

Fan reaction has been mixed about the new addition to Allen Fieldhouse, but when you consider how much KU could be getting for such a deal and the fact that the athletic department soon will be allowed — read: will need to — come up with nearly $21 million annually for revenue sharing with its student-athletes, it’s not hard to see (a) why this decision was made and (b) how much a deal like this — or future deals similar to it with all KU sports — could help KU’s new bottom line as it looks to support its athletes and compete at the highest level.

Enough about that for now. Here’s a look back at some of Tuesday night’s action vs. Duke.

LIKES

• Dajuan takes charge – KU point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. has been criticized by the home fans his share of times for not doing this or not doing that. On Tuesday night, Harris did a little bit of everything and looked to be in complete control while doing it. In the first half alone, the KU senior dropped 10 points and 4 assists. But it was the way he looked while doing it that really stood out. He was confident. He looked like a man among boys — at least in terms of how comfortable, confident and in control he was on both ends — and he played with a little extra bounce in his step. KU coach Bill Self recently said that he thought Harris had looked much different so far this season, particularly in the way he turns things up with his defense. And that was on full display in the first half, too. He also had 2 steals in the first half and displayed active hands, aggressive stands and a variety of carefully calculated pressures that often created chaos and occasionally led to Duke turnovers.

• AJ Storr starts – I haven’t hated Storr coming off of the bench so far this season, but I really liked Self plugging him into the starting lineup for this one. And it appeared that he did, as well. He still has work to do on the defensive end (see below), but he responded to the big role on the big stage by looking ultra-aggressive offensively in the early going. While that was good to see, it was even better to see that his aggressive mindset didn’t push him past the point of being smart. He didn’t play so aggressive that he started forcing things. He simply looked to attack, took it if it was there and moved it if it wasn’t.

• Defense to offense early – So much of KU’s blazing-hot start was owed to the Jayhawks’ defense. And not just KU getting stops. It was the way the Jayhawks turned those stops into points rather easily that really stood out. Three times in the first four minutes, KU got points off of its defense, either directly in terms of live-ball turnovers leading to points, or indirectly with a KU stop leading to a score on the ensuing Kansas possession. That played a huge role in KU building a 13-3 lead early and the 11-0 run that KU ripped off after trailing 3-2 in the game’s opening minute.

• Bidunga’s return – Not only was the KU freshman back from the injured ankle that forced him to miss much of KU’s most recent win, but he also checked into the game in his regular rotation spot. That was a good sign that there were no lingering issues with the ankle nor should anyone be overly concerned about how he’s doing. He looked good and moved well during his first stint on the floor, too. Bidunga being healthy turned out to be massive given the fact that KU played the final 10 minutes of this one without Hunter Dickinson (more below) and Bidunga was out there nearly the entire time after Dickinson left the game. He finished with 6 points and 8 big rebounds in just 16 minutes of game time. His line at the half? 2 points and 4 rebounds in 4 minutes. It’s worth noting here that KU guard Shak Moore, who has missed most of the season so far, did not play in this one after soreness in his injured foot flared up again and made it tough for him to go. Self said before the game that Moore would be out indefinitely and that he hoped to get Moore back before Christmas.

DISLIKES

• Big lapses in poise – Duke’s really good, so it’s not like the Blue Devils were just going to lay down and let Kansas run away from them once KU got up early. The problem was there were a few too many times when KU lost its head, played too sped up and forgot how to maintain its poise. Never was that a bigger issue than at the 10:26 mark of the second half. With KU leading 57-55, KU big man Hunter Dickinson was undercut on a rebound and a foul was called on Duke’s Maliq Brown. During the pile-up on the floor, however, Dickinson’s foot made contact with Brown’s head, sparking a review of the play by the officials. After a lengthy look, Dickinson was ejected after the contact was ruled a Flagrant 2. Despite Self’s objections to the call, Kansas had to play the rest of the game without their leading scorer and rebounder, who left the game with 11 points and 6 rebounds in 24 minutes. Dickinson had a stretch in the first half where the game got away from him a little, too. These are big games and there’s a lot at stake, but he’s got to stay in the game, both literally and in his head.

• Griffen jacks before halftime – It was a little sped up and scattered to begin with, but boy did it lead to a bad sequence for the Jayhawks. After KU picked up a loose ball turnover with around 18 seconds to play in the half, Rylan Griffen led the break and made a poor decision to launch a top-of-the-key 3 with around 15 seconds to play in the half. It missed badly, but way worse than the miss was the decision to shoot it in the first place. Credit the frantic nature of the final 30-40 seconds for getting to Griffen and forcing him into the decision. But for a guy who’s played games at a high level before, this should’ve been a no-brainer decision to pull it out, hold for one shot and at worst go into the half up by 5. Instead, his quick miss gave Duke time and the Blue Devils hit a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer to trim KU’s halftime lead to just 2, 41-39. Griffen more than made up for it with a couple of HUGE buckets in the second half and two clutch free throws in the game’s final seconds.

• Storr’s gambles on D – Bad close-out on Flagg’s first bucket. Just flew at him out of control. Then, on the next possession, he unnecessarily jumped and tried to sneak a steal but wound up out of position. Storr played 28 minutes on the night, which is slightly above his season average, and did have plenty of good moments on the offensive end and a steal on defense. Self said after the game that KU's still a work in progress and Storr is very much at the center of that. But it's clear that he's working and battling and gaining on it every week, even on the defensive end and even if he still makes some less-than-ideal plays/decisions.

WHAT THE?

• KJ James or LeBron Adams? – Early in the second half, the KU senior showed off his heart and hustle to pick up a huge chase-down block after trailing the play that kept two Duke points off the board. With the Blue Devils running in transition, it looked like they had an easy lob for a free two points. But the lob pass went awry and forced one more pass. That gave Adams time to run down the play and he swatted the layup attempt of Mason Gillis off the glass to steal the possession back for the Jayhawks. Those types of plays are exactly why Self believes Adams is so valuable. And his willingness to leave it all out there, do whatever the team needs him to do and show loads of emotion while doing it is all part of that value.

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