For the second game in a row — and the second time in 96 hours — the Kansas Jayhawks saw a game go down to the wire, and this time the Jayhawks came out on top, topping upset-minded UCF 91-87.
KU played without Dajuan Harris Jr., who injured his ankle on Monday and could not go, and used some interesting lineups throughout the night to get through this one. (More on that below).
More from Tuesday night...
• CHANCE PARKER'S PHOTO GALLERY
And the Jayhawks got a lift, albeit a delayed one, from the return of senior forward KJ Adams, who scored some key points and, more importantly, played big time defense late, to help Kansas pick up the win.
Zeke Mayo and Hunter Dickinson scored 24 apiece; Flory Bidunga recorded another double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists); and Mayo and Diggy Coit combined to hit 10 of 18 3-pointeres in the win.
Next up, KU (15-5 overall, 6-3 Big 12) will travel to Waco, Texas this weekend to take on the Baylor Bears at 2-year-old Foster Pavilion.
Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. on ESPN.
Here’s a look back at some of Tuesday’s action against UCF.
LIKES
• KJ’s back – The early returns weren’t good and there was more than a little rust out there for the senior forward who hadn’t played in 13 days. But it was good to see him back on the floor and he brought his signature energy and effort to the lineup, particularly in the second half. He looked much more comfortable as the game wore on and never stopped battling and playing hard. After he scored midway through the second half to pull Kansas within a point (65-64), his response to the goaltend that gave him the basket inspired the loudest ovation of the night in Allen Fieldhouse, as the fans stood and roared as he looked to all four corners of the arena, screaming and flexing while he did. He missed shots, he had a couple of bad fouls, but you can’t deny the energy — and confidence — he brings to this team and to Allen Fieldhouse.
• KJ in the clutch – Let’s give Adams another entry tonight, solely for his play late on both ends of the floor. After taking a beating on Twitter throughout the game from fans who want nothing to do with seeing him play anymore, Adams came up with winning plays on both offense and defense to help the Jayhawks survive. He did miss a big shot in the paint, but he also hit a couple of clutch free throws and played stellar defense down the stretch on Keyshawn Hall, who scored 34 points in the loss. Adams stuck to Hall for the final five or six UCF possessions and Hall found nothing that worked.
• First 6 minutes – It didn’t last, and it turned quickly the other way, but that first six minutes was something to watch, as KU ran freely, scored with ease and reached 21 points by the 14:14 mark of the first half. Again, it didn’t last. And in the next 4 minutes of game time, KU scored just 3 points. But that start was solid and much needed given the fact that starting point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. was not able to play in this one. KU had 41 points at halftime, but trailed by two at the break.
• Holy Bidunga – It was another good start for the freshman, who scored early, blocked a shot with vicious intentions and ran the floor and moved well on both ends, bringing energy to the court for the home team. But by far the most impressive part of his first few minutes against UCF came when he picked the pocket of a UCF guard up near the Jayhawk logo, started the break after collecting the loose ball, ran the floor hard to give Shak Moore an option on the play and then finished a lob from Moore to cap off the sequence. So athletic, so talented, so raw still and improving SO MUCH on a weekly, if not daily, basis.
• Bronx cheer for the inbounds pass – After failure to inbound the ball late cost KU the game against Houston over the weekend, the Jayhawks inbounded the ball with ease in a key spot late, drawing a Bronx cheer from the KU crowd.
DISLIKES
• No Dajuan – According to KU officials, point guard Dajuan Harris Jr. tweaked an ankle on Monday, leaving him unable to play against UCF on Tuesday night. The five starters for Kansas with Harris out were: Shak Moore, Zeke Mayo, Rylan Griffen, Flory Bidunga and Hunter Dickinson. Harris’ absence on Tuesday night ended his streak of consecutive starts at 98, which tied him with Ochai Agbaji and Keith Langford for the 7th most in KU history. He was just 4 starts away from claiming 5th on the list all by himself and on pace to finish the season in third place, with an outside shot at passing Raef LaFrentz for second. Danny Manning tops the list with 141 consecutive starts from 1985-88.
• 4 straight turnovers in the first half – UCF took the lead during this stretch while Self took a timeout and possibly a valium. In 61 seconds, the Jayhawks turned it over on four consecutive trips down the floor, most of them not even getting to the point where KU was able to run anything. Freshman Rakease Passmore started it, Diggy Coit and Zeke Mayo followed and Coit added his second turnover of the stretch for good measure. The Jayhawks finished the first half with 10 turnovers, giving up 9 points the Knights off of them. There’ve been plenty of people who have wondered what this team would look like without Dajuan Harris Jr., with some even hoping to see it. Now we have. And it wasn’t too pretty.
WHAT THE?
• Alphabet Soup with lineups – Some of it surely was due to Harris being out, but KU coach Bill Self still didn’t hold back with the lineups he used in the first half, perhaps searching for something — anything! — that would give him the feeling that the guys out there were doing what he wanted them to do in the way he wanted them to do it. The first half alone was honestly the wildest half I can ever remember watching in all my years covering this team. Two of the craziest lineups that stood out to me looked like this:
• Mayo, Griffen, Storr, Adams and Bidunga – This group was only out there together for a minute or so, but it certainly was weird to see (a) Mayo at the 1 and (b) Storr and Griffen out there with him. Both have guard skills but neither is an elite ball handler and they’ve been playing together a little more here lately. Still.
• Mayo, Storr, Adams, Bidunga & Dickinson – Three true bigs??? Whoa! This group played the final few minutes of the first half and didn’t fare all that poorly. They weren’t exactly great either, but they did get some buckets inside — as they’ve should — and weren’t completely cooked on the defensive end, thanks at least in part to the fact that Adams can guard guards. This group also started the 2nd half and played a good chunk of the final 20 minutes.
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