Kansas Basketball: Jayhawks soar to San Antonio

The season came down to Sunday afternoon for Kansas Basketball. Malik Newman stepped up in a huge way to lead the Jayhawks past Duke.

If the Jayhawks shoot well from the perimeter, it’s hard for teams to beat them. That has been the formula all season long. Not only do they score a bundle of points from outside, but it makes teams adjust their defense. This is Kansas Basketball. 

That is exactly what happened against Duke. Kansas did what Kansas does and defeated Duke to go to San Antonio.

This Kansas team had overachieved a bit all season long, nobody expected them to make it this far, many thought they would be the first No. 1 seed to fall against Penn, sorry Virginia.

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The opening half was exactly what folks thought it should be. Back and forth, no team went into the half with better than a four point lead. Both Duke and Kansas struggled from beyond the arc, the BlueDevils shot 3-15, the Jayhawks not much better at 4-14. Tre Duval, a heavily recruited guard by Bill Self led the way for Duke with 13 points. Devvonte’ Graham led all Jayhawk scorers with eight.

The Jayhawks picked the wrong game to have a bad shooting night, for the first half they shot just 37% from the field, but they did have eight more rebounds than Duke. They also committed 11 turnovers.

The entire first half score chart was filled with jumpers and layups. Foul trouble for the big men on both teams made it slightly easier for both teams to operate inside. Kansas struggled to find a shot for some time before realizing that their shot was always open six to eight feet away from the rim.

Duke led by three at the half.

2nd Half

Malik Newman came out hot making two straight three-point shots. Lagerald Vick had an easy floater followed by a deep shot that circled the rim and went down. The Jayhawks took the largest lead at that point at 44-39. Duke was forced to change their defense, just what Kansas wanted them to do.

The offense started moving through Malik Newman as the shots became easier, driving the lane two straight trips, collecting foul shots and an easy layup. It was obvious that Duke was starting to fear the outside shot of Kansas. The first 15 points for Kansas in the second half came from Newman and Lagerald Vick.

Kansas had to play near perfect to win this game, and when they didn’t, Duke took advantage. It felt as if Kansas was in control until you glanced at the score.

With 12 minutes remaining, both big men, Udoka Azubuike for Kansas, and Wendell Carter for Duke were sitting on the bench with four fouls. Silvio De Sousa didn’t appear to be 100% with a lingering ankle. This game was so good.

For Kansas, turnovers kept Duke in this game. Perhaps some bad calls went against Kansas as well. In the closing minutes the score went back and forth. With 1:20 left Duke went up by three thanks to a couple Grayson Allen free throws. Kansas tied it up with a three-pointer by Svi Mykhailiuk. A missed bucket by Allen as time expired sent the game to overtime.

Overtime

Five minutes. Overtime in Omaha. More back and forth. More Malik Newman. No player has been as important to their team more than Newman has meant to Kansas. As they did all season, the Jayhawks found just enough in the tank, just enough magic. By the way, the ball was off Duke, not De Sousa. Newman won this game for the Jayhawks. Newman is on his way to tournament Player of the Year.

Next: Best seasons all-time for Kansas Basketball

The Jayhawks are advancing to the Final Four! Nothing soft about this team coach.