Indianapolis — Quentin Grimes and Devon Dotson carried the Kansas backcourt. Udoka Azubuike and Dedric Lawson did the damage in the frontcourt. And the rest of the Jayhawks who played did just enough to help KU race past Michigan State, 92-87, at the Champions Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
With just two exhibition games under their belts, we did not have a whole lot to go on when breaking down this Kansas team. But we sure do now.
In front of a big crowd on a bright stage and on one of the biggest nights in college basketball, the Jayhawks played good offense and enough defense to move to 1-0 on the season.
In what will go down as Tom Keegan’s final KU Sports Extra at the Journal-World, we broke down the game and reacted to some of the things that went down during KU’s season opener on Tuesday night.
The Jayhawks will return to action Monday, back at Allen Fieldhouse, when they welcome Vermont to Lawrence for Game 2.
A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.
