Las Vegas — Kansas played some of its best basketball at the start of each half on Tuesday night against Duke, only to see one extended lead after another — as many as 13 points early and eight points later on — fall by the wayside.
Still, the top-ranked Jayhawks persisted against the 11th-ranked Blue Devils, clinging to a narrow advantage for the vast majority of the game, and after the second-half ejection of star center Hunter Dickinson, his replacement Flory Bidunga made a game-changing contest to force a turnover by Kon Knueppel in the final minute. Rylan Griffen hit a pair of free throws, Knueppel’s last attempt rattled out and KU held on for a white-knuckle 75-72 victory at T-Mobile Arena.
“That was fun to be a part of that one,” KU coach Bill Self said.
Dajuan Harris Jr. led four double-digit scorers for KU with 14 points and added nine assists, while Zeke Mayo earned a hard-fought 12 and AJ Storr put up 11 in his first game starting for the Jayhawks.
Dickinson had 11 prior to his ejection for a flagrant foul.
“I thought it was a good call,” Self said. “I thought the flagrant 2 may have been a little severe. I thought it was definitely (at least) a flagrant 1. It’s a good lesson to learn.”
Tyrese Proctor took all seven of his shots from beyond the arc and made five to serve as the game’s leading scorer. Freshman phenom Cooper Flagg had a hard time getting involved in the first half, largely due to the defense of KJ Adams, but finished with 13.
“He’s a great player, he’s a good prospect that’s probably going to be out of here next year,” Adams said. “… I think (we were) just keeping the ball out of his hands and making it a challenge for him to score. If we did that, I think that helps us win a lot.”
At the start of the game KU jumped ahead 10-3, aided by 3-pointers by Mayo and Dickinson, both of whom attempted to hype up the KU-friendly portion of the neutral crowd, and a pair of turnovers by Cooper Flagg. The Jayhawks boosted their early advantage further on a contested jump shot by Storr that turned into a three-point play. Adams said their goal, knowing Duke had young guards, was to “heat them up and try to get them to think about it way too much,” and it worked for a time.
“They’re really composed players,” he added, “and figured out how to mix it up.”
The Blue Devils got back within single digits on Flagg’s first points of the night, a pull-up jumper at the 14-minute mark, only for Harris to respond with an and-1 off a floater in the lane.
“We were on point defensively early, but we also made every shot,” Self said.
However, Duke had plenty of time to find its rhythm because the Jayhawks fell out of theirs for four minutes until Bidunga finished an alley-oop from Harris to make it 25-16, and then Storr drained a dead-center 3 out of the ensuing media timeout.
“I think I had the same mentality,” Storr said postgame. “Every night I step on the floor I’m just trying to get a win. That’s the most important thing and that’s been my mindset the whole season.”
KU regained a bit of its offensive verve but also committed a string of fouls that brought the Blue Devils into the bonus and allowed them to keep pace at the free-throw line. Proctor hit his second 3-pointer of the game with just under five minutes left in the half, and Maliq Brown made his first 3 of the season as part of a 12-0 run for Duke that tied the game at 32. Harris brought the run to a merciful end by connecting from deep himself.
The Jayhawks found themselves in a favorable position up 41-36 with the ball and the shot clock off, but Griffen took a transition 3 and missed badly, before Proctor connected at the buzzer at the other end to cut KU’s lead to two points at the break.
Knueppel gave Duke its first lead since 3-2 on a close-range fadeaway early in the second half, but Storr erased it immediately with a corner 3 and Adams scored twice as part of a 9-0 run.
The Blue Devils got hot from long range and Flagg hit a 3 for just his second field goal of the night, but then Adams blocked him inside to give KU a key bit of momentum entering a media timeout up 54-48.
Once again the strong start early in the half gave way to a sluggish middle, and with 10:26 to go Dickinson got called for a flagrant 2 foul as he got fouled while going for an offensive rebound, tumbled to the ground over Brown, and then appeared to extend his leg and prod Brown in the head while both were on the floor. The freshman Bidunga was pressed into extended action as Dickinson got ejected.
“It’ll teach him a good lesson and also it’ll give some other kids some confidence,” Self said.
Duke briefly tied the game at 59 and 61 while fouling repeatedly, then again at 65 before going ahead on a dunk by Flagg with six minutes left, only for Griffen to hit an off-balance 3 out of a timeout. He then finished off a protracted and chaotic possession with a layup through contact for a more conventional three-point play.
Duke evened the game once again, only for Mayo to rattle in a go-ahead floater with two minutes to go. With KU up 73-72, Flagg turned the ball over to allow the Jayhawks to run some significant clock, but Mayo couldn’t muster another heroic shot and Duke had a couple of late opportunities.
The Jayhawks, who remain unbeaten, will return to Lawrence to host Furman on Saturday at 5 p.m. in a game that is technically considered part of the Vegas Showdown.
AP Photo/Lucas Peltier
