No. 4/3 Jayhawks snare Jackrabbits, 98-64
LAWRENCE, Kan. – A career-high 27 points from senior guard Svi Mykhailiuk and an additional 22 from junior guard Lagerald Vick helped lead the hot-shooting No. 4/3 Kansas Jayhawks past the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, 98-64, Friday night inside Allen Fieldhouse. For the second time in its first three outings of the season, KU shot above 60 percent from the field and connected on more than 12 3-pointers to dispatch of the Summit League favorites.
The win moved Kansas to 3-0 on the year, the eighth time KU has accomplished the feat under Bill Self, who moved to second among Kansas head coaches with 419 victories as the KU head man. SDSU suffered its first loss of its 2017-18 season, moving to 3-1.
After posting a 30-percent shooting clip from the field in their win over Kentucky three days prior, the Jayhawks’ hot shooting touch returned on a balmy night in front of a capacity crowd inside Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks put the visitors on their heels early with a 17-4 run to come out of the gates. KU hit seven of its first eight shots, which included a pair of jumpers and a 3-pointer from Mykhailiuk, who was just getting warmed up in what would be a career night for the fourth-year man out of Ukraine. Off Mykhailiuk’s lead, KU took an early 13-point lead before the first media timeout.
The first break from action did little to cool down the Jayhawks, who continued their torrid shooting by raining in seven of their next 11 attempts, which included three-straight buckets from Mykhailiuk, who upped his point total to 14 less than eight minutes into the game.
Meanwhile, the KU defense was able to put a strangle hold on the SDSU offense that entered the night averaging nearly 80 points and 13 3-pointers per game behind college basketball’s top-returning scorer, junior Mike Daum (21.3 ppg). KU held the Jackrabbits to 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from the field over the first 12 minutes of the game and limited Daum to just two field goals and eight points in the first half.
A pin-point pass from Devonte’ Graham to fellow senior Clay Young, who laid in his lone two points of the night, gave the Jayhawks their first 20-point lead of the game at 47-26 with 3:22 left in the opening frame. KU went on to close the half on a 10-0 run, which was capped by Mykhailiuk’s third 3-pointer of the night 11 seconds prior to the intermission sending the teams to the locker room with KU leading 56-27.
The KU shots continued to fall after the intermission to push the KU lead to over 30 points with back-to-back lay-ups from sophomore center Udoka Azubuike. From there, the Jackrabbits were able to keep the Jayhawks’ lead from swelling any further as Daum got his game going with 13 second-half points and a trio of 3-pointers.
Daum’s second-half effort proved to be futile though, with Azubuike and Vick continuing to carry the hot-shooting torch in the second stanza originally lit by Mykhailiuk. Azubuike shot in 11 second-half points, while Vick added nine. Mykhailiuk nailed two more threes in the second half and added a pair of free throws to close out his career-high night with 27 points.
Kansas ended the game on a fitting note with freshman guard Chris Teahan tallying his first points as a Jayhawk, nailing his first 3-pointer and making it all nine players who entered the game for KU also entering the stat sheet. Seconds later the game ended with a 98-64 Kansas win, its highest point total of the young season
In addition to Mykhailiuk’s 27 points and 22 points from Vick, Azubuike also finished in double-figures as did redshirt-sophomore guard Malik Newman with 13 points. Graham added eight points and was just two points shy of a double-double after notching 11 assists.
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks kickoff the HoopHall Miami Invitational when they host the Texas Southern Tigers in Lawrence on Tuesday, Nov. 21. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m., and will be broadcast on Jayhawk TV and ESPN3. Dave Armstrong (play-by-play) and Chris Piper (analyst) will call the action.
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