Jalen Wilson buried a career-high five 3-pointers and contributed 22 points and six assists to lead No. 9 Kansas to an easy 87-55 nonconference victory over Texas Southern on Monday night at Lawrence, Kan.
MJ Rice scored a career-best 19 points and Gradey Dick added 15 points and three steals as the Jayhawks (7-1) bounced back from Friday’s 64-50 loss to Tennessee.
Joseph Yesufu matched his season best of 14 points, KJ Adams had 10 points and Dajuan Harris registered nine assists and three steals.
Davon Barnes scored 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting for Texas Southern (1-7), which lost its fifth straight game. Zytarious Mortle added 11 points and six rebounds and John Walker III had 10 points.
These same two teams met in the first round of last season’s NCAA Tournament, and Kansas rolled to an 83-56 victory en route to winning the national title.
Kansas shot 54.5 percent from the field and knocked down 13 of 29 3-point attempts. The Jayhawks held a 35-25 rebounding edge.
Texas Southern made 43.4 percent of its shots and was 4 of 17 from behind the arc. The Tigers committed 18 turnovers, leading to 22 points.
Wilson had 14 first-half points and Dick scored 12 as Kansas held a 40-25 halftime lead.
Walker scored the game’s first hoop for Texas Southern before the Jayhawks rattled off the next 11 points.
Later in the half, Kansas scored 13 consecutive points with Zuby Ejiofor slamming home a dunk to make it 27-10 with 6:03 remaining.
The lead reached 19 later in the half before the Jayhawks settled for the 15-point lead at the break.
Kansas continued the assault at the start of the second half by scoring the first 11 points. A three-point play by Adams capped the run and made it 51-25 with 17:32 left to play.
Later, Rice and Wilson each scored five points during a 10-0 run that increased the lead to 71-39 with 9:43 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Yesufu pushed the score to 87-53 with 1:46 left as the Jayhawks completed the rout.
–Field Level Media