Jayhawks rally past Texas; Miami routs Duke
Va. Tech women defeat N.C. State
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Gradey Dick scored 21 points, Dajuan Harris Jr. had 17 points, six rebounds and five assists, and No. 9 Kansas held on after blowing a 14-point first-half lead to beat fifth-ranked Texas 88-80 on Monday night.
Kevin McCullar Jr. added 16 points, Joseph Yesufu had 14 off the bench and KJ Adams finished with 10, helping the Jayhawks (19-5, 7-4 Big 12) overcome an off night from Jalen Wilson. The league’s leading scorer battled foul trouble and was held to two points, ending his streak of 25 straight double-figure games.
The Jayhawks needed everyone’s help holding off the Longhorns’ Marcus Carr.
The Minnesota transfer, who had a game-high 29 points, kept answering Kansas baskets down the stretch.
His 3-pointer got the Longhorns within 77-68 with 2:25 left, three free throws made it 78-71 with 1:31 to go, and his threepoint play got the Longhorns (19-5, 8-3) within 86-80 with 23.5 seconds remaining.
Texas had to foul Dick at the other end, though, and his free throw with 18 seconds left helped to put the game away.
Timmy Allen finished with 18 points for the Longhorns. Sir’Jabari Rice had 12 before fouling out.
The Longhorns have made a habit of overcoming double-digit deficits: 18 down to beat TCU, 12 down to beat Texas Tech and 14 down to beat No. 12 Kansas State last Saturday in a game played just down the road.
So it wasn’t that surprising when Texas dug another 14-point hole Monday night.
Just like the Longhorns did in Manhattan, though, they shook off 10 first-half turnovers to get within 42-35 by the break, then kept coming in the second half. Hunter hit a 3-pointer, Carr added a couple of buckets and it was 43-all when Kansas coach Bill Self called a timeout to slow Texas’ momentum.
Unlike the Horned Frogs, Red Raiders and Wildcats, the Jayhawks rose to the challenge.
McCullar’s three-point play while they were clinging to a 49-48 lead gave them a boost, and Dick added a couple of free throws. But it was back-to-back buckets by Harris, who is known more as a distributor rather than a scorer, that pushed the lead to 58-50 with about 12 minutes to go.
Texas closed within 66-60, but the Jayhawks pulled down two offensive boards and Dick hit another 3-pointer. And when Yesufu bookended a couple of free throws by Harris, the lead had stretched back to 75-62 with 3 minutes to go.
The Jayhawks were able to fend off Carr and the Longhorns from there.
NO. 19 MIAMI 81, DUKE 59:
In Coral Gables, Fla., Norchad Omier had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Jordan Miller added 16 points and No. 19 Miami never trailed on the way to a thrashing of the Blue Devils.
Wooga Poplar scored 14 and Wong scored 11 for Miami (19-5, 10-4 Atlantic Coast Conference). The Hurricanes led by as many as 26 and improved to 13-0 at home.
Ryan Young and Dereck Lively II each scored 11 points for Duke (17-7, 8-5), which saw its three-game winning streak snapped.
Women
NO. 11 VIRGINIA TECH 73, NO. 22 N.C. STATE 61:
In Raleigh, N.C., Georgia Amoore scored a careerhigh 27 points with five 3-pointers, Elizabeth Kitley had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Hokies (19-4, 9-4 Atlantic Coast Conference beat the Wolfpack (16-7, 6-6).
Virginia Tech won at N.C. State for the first time in 13 meetings and improved to 3-26 overall in the series.