πŸ€ Kansas Falls to Dayton in Second Round of ESPN Events Invitational, 74-73

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Kansas Jayhawks fell to the Dayton Flyers, 74-73, on Friday in the second round of the ESPN Events Invitational at HP Field House at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.

Dayton’s Mustapha Amzil hit the game-winning bucket as time expired to give the Flyers the one-point win over the Jayhawks. Trailing by one, Dayton got the ball with 15 seconds left, needing a basket for the win. Malachi Smith drove and went for a layup that was swatted away by David McCormack of Kansas.

Amzil grabbed the ball off the block and drove to the middle of the key and threw up a runner that took a big bounce off the rim, before falling in for the winning points as the game ended.

The loss was the first of the season for the fourth-ranked Jayhawks, who are now 4-1 on the season. Dayton improved to 3-3 on the season. The Jayhawks will play for third place Sunday against the loser of the Iona and Belmont matchup.

Against the Flyers, Kansas led for the entirety of the first half and led by as many as 15 points when it took a 44-29 lead with 1:43 to play in the opening half. The Jayhawks led 45-35 at half, but Dayton quickly erased the deficit and knotted the game at 49 with 16 minutes to play in the second.

The game was back-and-forth from there with neither team ever leading by seven points the rest of the way. Trailing 70-67, Kansas scored six straight points to take a three-point lead. Remy Marin and Ochai Agbaji each made buckets to make it 71-70, before Agbaji had a dunk to make it 73-70 with 1:09 left.

But Dayton got a layup from Smith with 44 seconds left and then took a charge on McCormack to get the ball back, setting up the game-winner from Amzil.

The Jayhawks were led by Agbaji, who had 21 points on 8 of 16 shooting in 33 minutes. Martin and Christian Braun each had 17 points, with Braun adding eight rebounds, five assists and four steals in 35 minutes.

Kansas shot 50 percent from the floor as a team (30-of-60), but allowed Dayton to shoot 53 percent from the floor and the Jayhawks were outrebounded 32-24.

Kansas will play Iona in the consolation final of the ESPN Events Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 28, at 12 p.m. (Central) on ESPN.