Published Jan 11, 2025
No. 11 Kansas closes out Cincinnati, 54-40, with 16-3 run to end the game
Shay Wildeboor  â€˘  JayhawkSlant
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Since losing at home to West Virginia, 62-61, on December 31, No. 11 Kansas (12-3; 3-1) has rattled off three straight conference wins.

Bill Self’s squad won at UCF, 99-48, on January 5, returned home to defeat Arizona State, 74-55, on January 8, and, on Saturday afternoon, Kansas won at Cincinnati, 54-40.

Self’s squad, in defeating the Bearcats, closed out the game on a 16-3 run to move the home team to 0-4 in Big 12 play.

Self, shortly after Kansas won its third straight Big 12 game, talked about the performance of his team.

In the second half of Saturday's road win, Kansas limited Cincinnati to just 15 points.

“It was an ugly ass, great win,” said Bill Self after the game. “Would it be better if it was 84-70, that’s what I told them, and the answer is no. To win the game like that on the road against a team that, just 10 days ago, was a top 20 team, hold them to what I’m sure will be season lows in just about everything, and they lucked in a couple of shots.

“Stuck to the game plan, and Dools (Joe Dooley) did a great job on the scout,” he added. “Guys bought in, and our ball screen defense was on point. We didn’t give up straight line drives, and we didn’t give up lobs, and we didn’t give up any angles.”

Just how good defensively was Kansas on Saturday? The Jayhawks limited Cincinnati to just 30.5 percent shooting (18-of-59) from the field, 13.6 percent shooting (3-of-22) from behind the arc, and just 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.

Averaging 75.4 points per game, the 40 points are the fewest for the Bearcats in head coach Wes Miller's four seasons.

The 40 points allowed were the fewest since KU beat Howard 89-34 on Dec. 29, 2011. It was the fewest Kansas has allowed on the road since beating Nebraska in Lincoln 45-39 on Feb. 23, 1963.

“When you defend the arc, you’ve got to be able to take away baskets at the rim,” said Self. “According to our analytics expert, Chase Buford, they started the game out 18-2 in the paint against us, and we end up winning that battle, 32-24, so that’s 30-6 after that.

“Hunt was Hunt,” he added. “(He) had 14 and 12, and I thought he was great. KJ (Adams), in the second half, was fantastic. We didn’t make any shots, and Diggy (Coit) got great looks and didn’t make them, but he will. Zeke (Mayo) was off offensively a little bit, but Shak (Moore), defensively, and KJ, defensively, in the second half, just kind of inspired everybody else to guard.”

The numbers weren’t much better for Kansas on the offensive end of the court. As a team, the Jayhawks shot just 24-of-68 (35.3%) from the field, 2-of-21 (9.5%) from behind the arc, and 4-of-5 (80.0%) from the free-throw line.

However, down one, 33-32, with 10:38 left in the game, Rylan Griffen hit a jumper that gave Self’s squad the lead for good.

During the last 6:47 of the game, Kansas closed out Cincinnati with a 16-3 run that moved the Bearcats to 0-4 in league play.

With 4:48 left on the clock, a driving layup by Zeke Mayo extended KU’s lead over Cincinnati to seven points,44-37, and was a key play in Kansas winning its third straight Big 12 game.

Following that layup, Mayo stole the ball and hit Moore with a lob pass, which resulted in a dunk.

KU’s bench exploded and Kansas never looked back.

“When you start off 0-3, every team in the league is going to play desperate,” said Mayo. “It's a hard league to play in, so that's just kind of something we emphasized in the locker room.

“We all were connected on both ends of the floor,” he added. “Obviously, shots didn’t fall like we wanted them to tonight, but we buckled down on defense and got the stops we needed.”

Mayo, in 31 minutes, scored nine points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 shooting from behind the arc. He also pulled down six rebounds, dished out two assists, and was credited with one steal.

Against Cincinnati, just one player, Hunter Dickinson, scored in double-figures. KU’s big man totaled 14 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.

For the game, Dickinson hit 7-of-16 field goals (0-of-3) from behind the arc.

“I think it was really just turning defense into offense,” said Hunter Dickinson when asked about KU’s scoring run to end the game. “We really hung our hat on the defensive end today. I think that really helped us with our transition game.

“They really crashed the glass and just wanted to get out there and be able to rebound so we can run ourselves. Guys like KJ (Adams) and guys like Shak (Moore) were really good at jumping the passing lanes and really turning those fast breaks for us. We made them play worse than us and sometimes that's what you’ve got to do defensively.”

In all, Kansas was led offensively by Hunter Dickinson (14), Zeke Mayo (9), Shakeel Moore (8), KJ Adams (8), Dajuan Harris (5), AJ Storr (4), Rylan Griffen (2), David Coit (2), and Flory Bidinga (2).

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Kansas plays at Iowa State on Wednesday