No. 7 Kansas overcomes offensive woes, beats No. 20 Kentucky

INDIANAPOLIS(AP) — Kansas forward Jalen Wilson waited a whole year for a night like Tuesday.

His celebration came in almost total silence.

Wilson scored 21 of his career-high 23 points in the second half, made the first two 3-pointers of his career during the key stretch and posted his first double-double to help No. 7 Kansas get past No. 20 Kentucky 6562 in the Champions Cl assi c.

“My team needed me to step up even though I had a slow first half, and the second half turned out to be a really good half,” the redshirt freshman said. “I always practice those (3-point) shots. I have confidence in me, my team has confidence in me and it felt really good.”

And the Jayhawks (21) needed everything Wilson could muster in an ugly, disjointed game.

Wilson was 8 of 16 from thefield — theonly player on either team with a shooting percentage of 50% or better. He had a season-best 10 rebounds. Ochai Agbaji added 17 points for Kansas, and Christian Braun had eight points and 13 rebounds.

Kentucky (1-2) was led by Brandon Boston Jr. and Davion Mintz, who each scored 12. Mintz had a chance to tie it with five seconds to go but his 3-pointer was off the mark and Kansas grabbed the rebound.

“They’ve got to go through this, it’s all part of the growth of this,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “They punked us.

We couldn’t even bring in the ball.”

What was supposed to be one of this season’s showcase games between college basketball’s two winningest programs devolved quickly into sloppy play, full of turnovers, missed shots and blown opportunities.