No. 2 Kansas heads to Brooklyn for NIT Season Tip-Off

Freshman guard Devon Dotson 

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks (3-0) are set to spend the Thanksgiving holiday in Brooklyn, New York, when they play a pair of games as part of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Barclays Center. KU’s week starts on Wednesday, Nov. 21 in a semifinal match-up against the Marquette Golden Eagles (3-1) at 6 p.m. on ESPN2. Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Fran Fraschilla (analyst) will call the action.
 
WATCH JAYHAWK GAMEDAY LIVE FROM BROOKLYN
Jayhawk Gameday Live, a 30-minute pregame show and a 60-minute postgame show, will be live before KU’s NIT match-up with Marquette Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. (CT). Full postgame reaction and analysis will follow immediately after the game’s conclusion. The show will be available across the country on the ESPN app, as well as regionally on KMCI, Spectrum Sports, Midco Sports Network and Cox Cable. For more information on how to access Jayhawk Gameday Live as well as content from the Jayhawk Network, visit KUAthletics.com/JTV.
 
TIP-OFF

• The Jayhawks are coming off an 89-76 win versus Louisiana on Nov. 16. Marquette bounced back from a loss at Indiana (11/14) and defeated Presbyterian, 74-55, on Nov. 17.
• The Barclays Center will be the second NBA venue Kansas will play in this season. KU defeated Michigan State in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Nov. 6. Last year, KU played in three NBA arenas – Chicago, Miami and Sacramento.
• Kansas is looking to go 4-0 for the second-straight season and eighth time in Bill Self’s 16 seasons at KU.
• Kansas leads Marquette 6-1 in all-time meetings, with the last meeting at the 2003 Final Four in New Orleans, a KU 94-61 win.
• Senior G Lagerald Vick’s 32 points against Vermont (11/12) and 33 points versus Louisiana marked the 29th and 30th time in Bill Self’s 15-plus seasons at KU that a Jayhawk has scored 30 or more points. Vick’s 15 combined 3-pointers was also the most ever by a Jayhawk in back-to-back games.
• Vick’s back-to-back 30-point efforts earned him Big 12 Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. The announcement marked the 73rd time in the league’s history a Jayhawk has claimed the Player of the Week award and the second this season (D. Lawson, Nov. 12).
• The victory over Louisiana (11/16) marked the 40th-straight KU win inside Allen Fieldhouse during the month of November, a streak which began in 2006.
• Kansas returns two starters and six letterwinners from last season’s squad that claimed the Jayhawks’ 14th-consecutive Big 12 regular-season title, the Big 12 Championship title and advanced to school’s 15th Final Four.

 
ABOUT KANSAS
No. 2 Kansas is 3-0 for the second-straight season and eighth time under head coach Bill Self after its 89-76 win against Louisiana on Nov. 16. Through three games, Kansas leads the Big 12 in 3-point field goal percentage at 52.4 percent and assists with a 20.0 average. KU averages 88.3 points and has a +11.3 scoring margin. The Jayhawks make 10.0 3-pointers per game and have a +8.3 rebound margin.
 
The Jayhawks are led by senior G Lagerald Vick who is coming off back-to-back 30-point games with 32 versus Vermont (11/12) and a career-high 33 against Louisiana (11/16). Vick averages 22.3 points per game, which is second in the Big 12 and has made 15 3-pointers in his last two contests. Vick also leads KU with six steals in three games and he is third on the team with a 5.0 rebound average. Junior C Udoka Azubuike is next in scoring at 19.0 points per game and his 7.3 rebound average is second on the squad. Azubuike leads the team with nine blocked shots and a 67.6 field goal percentage. Redshirt junior F Dedric Lawson is coming off a 19-point, six-rebound game against Louisiana (11/16). He leads the team with a 9.0 rebound average and is second on the squad with 11 assists. Freshmen guards Quentin Grimes (12.3 ppg, team-high 17 assists) and Devon Dotson (9.0 ppg, five steals) round out the Kansas starters.
 
Sophomore G Marcus Garrett (4.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg) is third on the team with 10 assists. Other KU regulars include redshirt sophomore G Charlie Moore (2.7 ppg), freshman F David McCormack (2.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg), redshirt sophomore G K.J. Lawson (2.0 ppg) and junior F Mitch Lightfoot (1.7 ppg).
 
ABOUT MARQUETTE
Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with an enrollment of 12,000, Marquette is 3-1 on the season after defeating Presbyterian, 74-55, on Nov. 17. The Golden Eagles are coached by Steve Wojciechowski, who is in his fifth season at Marquette and fifth season overall in the collegiate ranks with a 76-60 record. Preseason pick No. 2 in the BIG EAST, Marquette averages 76.5 points and has a plus-13.5 scoring margin. The Golden Eagles also dominate the boards averaging 42.0 rebounds per game with a plus-8.7 rebound margin. Marquette also averaged 16.0 free throws made per game, 5.0 blocked shots and 3.5 steals.
 
Junior G Markus Howard leads Marquette in scoring at 20.0 points per game to go along with a 5.8 rebound average. Howard also leads the team with 12 3-point field goals made and 22 assists for 5.4 per contest. Junior G/F Sam Hauser is next in scoring at 15.5 points per game and he is tied with his brother Joey, a redshirt freshman, for the team lead in rebounds at 6.5 per game. Joey scores 12.0 points per game and is second on the team with 12 assists. Both Hausers have a team-best three steals. Sophomore F Theo John (7.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and redshirt junior G/F Sacar Anim (6.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg) round out the Marquette starters.
 
Other Marquette regulars include graduate G Joseph Chartouny (5.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg), sophomore F Jamal Cain (4.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg), redshirt junior F Ed Morrow (3.5 ppg, three assists, four blocked shots) and freshman F Brendan Bailey (1.8 ppg, four blocked shots).
 
THE SERIES
This dates back to 1956 and Kansas leads 6-1. The Jayhawks won the first three meetings and have won the last three with the most recent in the 2003 national semifinal in New Orleans, a KU 94-61 win. Marquette’s lone win was also a national semifinal on March 23, 1974, in Greensboro, North Carolina.
 
The Nov. 21, 2018, contest will be the fourth of the series played on a neutral court. Besides the two NCAA Final Four meetings, KU defeated Marquette, 76-62, on Dec. 16, 1961, in Manhattan, Kansas.
 
A KANSAS WIN WOULD…
Make Kansas 4-0 for the second-straight season and eighth time in head coach Bill Self’s 16 seasons at KU … Make Kansas 19-3 all-time in the NIT Season Tip-Off and give KU its fifth NIT finals appearance in six NITs … Make Kansas 7-1 all-time versus Marquette, giving KU a four-game series winning streak … Make Self 451-96 while at Kansas and 658-201 overall … Make Kansas 2,252-849 all-time.
 
A KANSAS LOSS WOULD…
Make Kansas 3-1 for the eighth time in the Bill Self era … Make Kansas 18-4 in the NIT Season Tip-Off … Mark only the second time in six NIT appearances that Kansas did not make the championship game … Make the Kansas-Marquette series 6-2 in favor of KU but end a KU three-game series win streak … Make Self 450-97 while at Kansas and 657-202 overall … Make Kansas 2,251-850 all-time.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Coming off his historic performance against Vermont, senior Lagerald Vick showed no signs of slowing down as he recorded a new career high and his second-straight 30-point game of the season to help the No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks shoot past Louisiana, 89-76, Nov. 16 inside Allen Fieldhouse. Vick, who surpassed his career high for the second-straight game with 33 points, was 11-of-18 from the field and connected on seven 3-pointers, making him the first player in program history to tally seven or more threes in consecutive games.
 
A scrappy Louisiana team tested the Jayhawks from the opening tip, as junior forward Justin Miller kept KU from gaining any momentum with his 22 points in the first half. A 24-5 run from the visiting team prompted the Jayhawks to reset after the Ragin’ Cajuns led 32-20 with under 10 minutes left in the half. From there, the Jayhawks rattled off 10-straight points to bring themselves within two. Vick took matters into his own hands as he closed the half with back-to-back threes, including a deep shot from inside half court to put the Jayhawks up three at the break, 44-41.
 
Junior center Udoka Azubuike used six dunks and four blocks to nearly record a double-double with 17 points and eight rebounds on the night, with three-consecutive dunks sealing the victory for KU in the final three minutes.
 
LOUISIANA NOTABLES

• The win made Kansas 3-0 for the second-straight season and ninth time in Bill Self’s 16 seasons at KU.
• Kansas won its 41st-straight game inside Allen Fieldhouse during the month of November, a streak which began in 2006.
• Kansas used a 16-3 run in the first half to erase a 12-point Louisiana lead, the largest deficit KU had faced all season.
• Kansas outrebounded Louisiana 42-27, marking the first time KU has outrebounded its opponent by 15 or more since Duke in 2018.
• With his 7-of-12 outing from 3-point range, paired with his 8-of-8 outing against Vermont (11/12), Lagerald Vick became the first player in Kansas history to hit seven or more threes in back-to-back games.
• Tallying 33 points, Vick became the first KU player since Devonte’ Graham (35 vs. Toledo, 35 vs. Syracuse in 2017) to record back-to-back games with 30+ points last season.
• Vick became the ninth Jayhawk to post multiple 30-point outings in a career since Bill Self took over in 2003-04.
• Sophomore G Marcus Garrett dished out a career-high five assists.
• Junior C Udoka Azubuike’s four blocks marked the sixth time in his career he has four or more blocked shots in a game.
• Four nights after his first scoreless performance, redshirt junior F Dedric Lawson tallied 19-points on 6-of-11 shooting to go along with six rebounds and three assists.

 
NIT HISTORY
Kansas will play Marquette on Nov. 21 in the NIT Tip Off at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With its win versus Vermont on Nov. 12 in a campus round of the NIT, Kansas is 18-3 in the NIT Season Tip off having won event three times – 1989, 1993 and 1997. The Jayhawks placed second in 1985 and fourth in 2002. In the early format, KU has advanced to the event’s semifinals and finals/consolation finals in Madison Square Garden all five times it has played in it.
 
30-POINT GAMES UNDER SELF
Senior G Lagerald Vick scored a career-high 32 points against Vermont (11/12), and in the process he set the KU game record for most 3-pointers made without a miss going 8-for-8. His eight treys also tied for the second-most ever made by a Jayhawk in a game. The 32 points marked the 29th time a Jayhawk has scored 30 or more points in a game in the Bill Self era. Four days later, Vick surpassed his career high with 33 points in the win versus Louisiana, Nov. 16.
 
Vick became the ninth Jayhawk to have posted multiple 30-point outings in a career since Self took over in 2003-04. Wayne Simien tallied four 30-point performances during his time in Lawrence, two apiece in his junior and senior seasons. Frank Mason III scored 30 points three times, all during his National Player of the Year campaign in 2016-17. Ben McLemore also hit 30 three times, all coming in his one season with the Jayhawks in 2012-13. Last season, both Devonte’ Graham and Malik Newman hit the 30-point plateau on two occasions.
 
VICK NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Kansas senior Lagerald Vick posted back-to-back 30-point efforts as he has been named the Big 12 Player of the Week in a vote by a media panel which covers the league, the conference announced Nov. 19. This is the second-straight week Kansas has taken home the Big 12 Player of the Week accolade as redshirt junior forward Dedric Lawson was last week’s honoree (Nov. 12).
 
Vick opened the week scoring a then-career-high 32 points in Kansas’ 84-68 win against Vermont on Nov. 12. In the game, the Memphis, Tennessee, guard broke the Big 12 and Kansas record for most 3-point field goals made without a miss by going 8-for-8 from beyond the arc. Vick’s 8-for-8 effort was two shy of the NCAA record and his eight treys tied for the second-most made in KU history.
 
In Kansas, 89-76 win against Louisiana on Nov. 16, Vick scored 33 points, surpassing his career high set earlier in the week. Once again Vick was sharp shooting from 3-point range, making 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. KU’s lone senior just missed a double-double against the Ragin’ Cajuns as he pulled down nine rebounds in the win.
 
For the week, Vick averaged 32.5 points and shot 23-for-32 (71.8 percent) from the field, 15-for-20 (75.0 percent) from 3-point range and averaged 6.0 rebounds. Vick’s 15 3-pointers in the two contests set a Kansas record for most 3-pointers made in consecutive games.
 
TOUGH COMPETITION
Many talk about how tough the Kansas schedule is for 2018-19. One look at KU’s nonconference opponents shows that six foes were preseason selections in their respective league races, with an additional five picked for second-place finishes.
 

 
UP NEXT
Kansas will face either Louisville or Tennessee in the final round of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Friday, Nov. 23, at 6 or 8 p.m.  (Central) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
 
Kansas leads the overall series with Louisville, 6-5, and Tennessee, 2-1.
 
After its win versus Vermont (11/12), Kansas is 18-3 in the NIT and last participated in the event in 2002-03, where the Jayhawks finished fourth. Prior to this year, KU has played in five NITs in 1985-96, 1989-90, 1993-94, 1997-98 and 2002-03. KU has won three NIT titles in 1989, 1993 and 1997. 

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