No. 3 Kansas pulls away late from UNCG; Wilson suffers broken ankle
On Tuesday night, No. 3 Kansas and No. 4 Duke squared off at Madison Square Garden in the Champions Classic in the season opener for both programs. The Jayhawks committed 28 turnovers and, in doing so, dropped their season opener to the Blue Devils, 68-66.
In facing UNCG on Friday night, Kansas, playing in front of its home crowd inside Allen Fieldhouse, experienced a completely different result this time around. Behind four double-digit scorers, Devon Dotson (22), Ochai Agbaji (13), Udoka Azubuike (10), and Marcus Garrett (10), the Jayhawks after leading by just four points at halftime, pulled away in the second half, 74-62.
Tristan Enaruna chipped in nine points, while transfer Isaiah Moss tallied eight points on 2-of-6 shooting from behind the arc.
Self, to start the second half, went with a smaller lineup against UNGC. Instead of starting two big men, Self went with Dotson, Garrett, Agbaji, Moss and Azubuike.
“I didn’t think we could guard them," said Kansas head coach Bill Self. "I thought we got lucky early, guarding them with four guards. And, once again, the offense was crowded and we didn’t have much going so we thought we’d try to spread them and then we actually defended pretty good, too.”
Dotson, who led Kansas in scoring for the second-straight game, was 6-of-14 from the field, 2-of-5 from behind the arc, and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. In 36 minutes of action, Dotson also pulled down eight rebounds, dished out six assists and committed just one turnover.
In scoring in double-figures for the second-straight game, sophomore Ochai Agbaji finished with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-8 from behind the arc. In 35 minutes of action, he pulled down four rebounds, dished out two assists, and was credited with two steals.
After struggling against Duke, Udoka Azubuike had somewhat of a bounce back game against UNCG. In 28 minutes of action, Azubuike scored 10 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. He was 5-of-8 from the field, but missed all four free-throw attempts.
Tristan Enaruna might have been the biggest surprise of the game for Kansas. Coming off the bench, Enaruna, in 20 minutes of action, scored nine points, pulled down five rebounds, dished out two assists, and was credited with one block.
At one point in the second half, Kansas found itself up by 21 points, but UNCG countered with a run of its own and, in doing so, eventually cut the deficit to 10 points. On the very next trip down the court, Enaruna dialed up a shot from behind the arc, which hit nothing but the bottom on the net, and increased KU’s lead to 13 points. It was one of the biggest shots of the game for Kansas.
As a team, Kansas shot 27-of-59 (45.8%) from the field, 10-of-26 (38.5%) from behind the arc, and 10-of-19 (52.6%) from the free-throw line. The Jayhawks dished out 15 assists to just 10 turnovers, blocked two shots and finished with five steals.
Self, when asked specifically about Moss, said that he’s not quite at 100% yet, but added that his ability to score from behind the arc will definitely stretch some defenses this season.
“I thought he did great considering," said Self. "I don’t think he’s 100%. He still looks a little slow to me compared to what he did before he got hurt. But he can stretch it. You know, he’s a good shooter. He’ll make us play much better offensively.
“And I thought he played with some good pace and demonstrated some poise. I didn’t think he looked rushed at all when he had the ball.”
The news, however, wasn’t all good for Kansas. Early on in the first half, freshman Jalen Wilson suffered a broken ankle and will have surgery next week to repair the injury. According to Self, the injury could take up to three months to fully recovery, and it's not yet known if Wilson will return this season or take a redshirt.
“It’s a bad one,” Self said. “He broke it and it requires surgery early next week and the time table on a return will be close to three months. I’m not going to tell you that he’ll for sure sit the rest of the year but the likelihood of that is pretty strong.”
Having bounced back from Tuesday night's loss to Duke, Kansas will now turn its attention to next Friday’s matchup against Monmouth. Self, when asked if its too early to make a decision on whether to play with two big men or four guards more often, had this to say.
“Oh, it’s way too early," Self said of making a decision on whether to go with two bigs or four guards more often. "We’re going to play two bigs some. We will. And there’ll be teams we can do that against and that’ll be the best way for us to play defensively. But tonight wasn’t one of those nights.”