Graham’s shots finally fall for Kansas

WICHITA, Kan. — Devonte Graham kept driving to the rim, using his deft crossover and blinding first step to get past Penn’s defenders, only to watch every shot he put up bounce out.

He turned to teammate Malik Newman and said, “Man, I’m just not finishing.”

Newman’s reply: “Keep being aggressive.”

Graham evidently listened.

The Big 12 player of the year finally started to get his shots to go, igniting sluggish Kansas midway through the first half and finishing with 29 points to lift the topseeded Jayhawks to a tough, grind-it-out 76-60 victory over the Quakers Thursday in a Midwest Regional firstround game.

Lagerald Vick added 14 points for the Jayhawks (28-7), who trailed the Ivy League champs by 10 in the early stages before going on a 19-2 run late in the half to take control.

Kansas will play Seton Hall on Saturday.

A.J. Brodeur had 14 points to lead the Quakers (24-9), but he was just 6 of 16 from the field and committed five turnovers. He was also 1 of 5 from the free-throw line, where Penn was 5 of 14 as a team.

Freshman Marvin Bagley III scored 22 points, and second-seeded Duke (27-7) rolled by Iona (2014) in Pittsburgh. The Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year made 10 of 14 shots in 32 minutes, grabbed seven rebounds and knocked down his lone three-point attempt. Grayson Allen scored 16 points and added a gamehigh nine assists for Duke, Trevon Duval finished with 19 points and eight assists, and Gary Trent Jr. had 16 points and six rebounds as the deeper, more talented Blue Devils withstood an early push from Iona (20-14) to win going away. Duke will play seventhseeded Rhode Island (26-7) on Saturday. Iona was within 26-23 about nine minutes into the game as the two teams played at a breakneck pace. The Blue Devils upped the intensity defensively, and Allen’s threepointer at the halftime buzzer gave them a 53-39 lead. Duke then went on a 19-7 burst to start the second half. Khadeen Carrington scored 26 points, Desi Rodriguez added 20, and eighth-seeded Seton Hall (22-11) beat North Carolina State (21-12) in a foul-filled game in Wichita. Myles Powell added 19 points and Angel Delgado scored 13 for the Pirates, who led the entire way. Allerik Freeman hit six threepointers and had 36 points to lead the Wolfpack. The only thing that slowed down the high-scoring, upand-down matchup was the whistles. The teams combined for 53 fouls, resulting in 66 free throws.