Completed Event: Women's Volleyball at South Dakota on September 13, 2025 , Win , 3, to, 0
Final
Women's Volleyball
3
at South Dakota
0
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Another dominant outing from Kansas sophomore center Udoka Azubuike helped the No. 14/13 Jayhawks speed past the Stanford Cardinal, 75-54, Thursday night at Golden1 Center. Azubuike led all scorers with 24 points, his fourth 20-point outing of the season.
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The win gave Kansas its 10th nonconference win of the year, now sitting at 10-2. Stanford’s loss moved the Cardinal to 6-7 in 2017-18.
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Azubuike seemed to be destined for a big night from the tip-off. The 7-0 foot center couldn’t be stopped in the early minutes after scoring each of the Jayhawks’ first 10 points, which included three rim-rattling dunks. Despite the sophomore big man’s early heroics the Cardinal stayed close and even held a one-point advantage after Michael Humphrey’s 3-pointer at the 15:32 mark, 11-10.
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But the Jayhawks quickly put the pedal to the medal on the other end, exploding on an 18-2 run to put Stanford in the rear view mirror for good. Devonte’ Graham hit a pair of three’s during that stretch and capped the spirt with an alley-oop feed to Azubuike that gave Kansas a 15-point edge just short of midway through the opening half, 28-13.
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The KU lead hit 20 points with seconds remaining in the opening stanza when Graham found Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk for an alley-oop with a half-court pass. Stanford’s Reid Travis connected on a jumper on the final possession of the half to cut the KU lead to 47-29 as the squads headed into the intermission.
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The Jayhawks, who shot better than 62 percent from the field in the first half, got out to a relatively cold start in the second frame. Hitting just two of its first seven shots, Kansas allowed Stanford to shorten the deficit to 14 points with Travis’ 3-pointer less than four minutes into the half.
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The slow start didn’t cool down the Kansas defense though, who put a strangle hold on the Stanford shooters. After Travis’ three, the Jayhawks held the Cardinal without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. That stretch helped KU get the lead back up to 19 points with Mykhailiuk’s lay-up at the 10-minute mark putting his team up 58-39.
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The Jayhawks went on to allow just nine Stanford field goals over the final 20 minutes, with Travis’ 3-pointer in the early minutes of the half, the only Cardinal trey of the half.
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Both squads traded blows the rest of the way, but Kansas never let Stanford make a charge. Azubuike closed out his night with two more dunks over the final two minutes to close out his fourth 20-point outing of the season and the 75-54 Kansas win.
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As he has been all season, Azubuike was once again efficient from the field, hitting 12 of his 15 attempts (80 percent) . He also tied Mykhailiuk and Malik Newman for the team lead in rebounds with seven boards. Graham and Mykhailiuk also scored in double figures, netting 14 apiece with Graham going 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Lagerald Vick rounded out the Jayhawks in double figures with his 13 points, 10 of which came in the first half.
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UP NEXT
Kansas opens Big 12 play at Texas on Friday, Dec. 29, at 8 p.m. (Central) on ESPN2. The Jayhawks lead the overall series with the Longhorns, 29-8, including a 9-6 record in Austin. KU has won the last three games at the Erwin Center.
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Kansas has won a mindboggling 26-straight conference openers dating back to the 1991-92 season with 10 of those in Allen Fieldhouse and 16 on the road. The last time KU lost a conference opener was at Oklahoma, 88-82, on Jan. 8, 1991.FOLLOWÂ
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