Jayhawks Bounce Back With Win Over TCU

Kansas needed to bounce back quickly after Saturday's lopsided loss in Ames, and for the most part, that's exactly what they did. It was a bit of a slow start, with KU and TCU staying within a couple possessions of each other for the first ten minutes. The Jayhawks slowly but steadily built a lead, pushing it to double digits as the half went on and entering halftime with a 40-31 advantage.

There were several times in the second half where it even looked like it could turn into a blowout. KU repeatedly turned the Horned Frogs over (forced 20 TOs on the night) and were able to get some easy transition buckets, but TCU was always able to respond just enough to keep things interesting. Still, they could never pull any closer than three, and ultimately fell in Allen Fieldhouse 77-68.

After three straight uncharacteristically unimpressive performances, Dedric Lawson came up big for the 'Hawks, scoring 31 on just 10-19 shooting, including 2-4 from outside, and grabbing 14 rebounds with three steals. However, the biggest story of the night was probably Ochai Agbaji. Bill Self announced just yesterday that he would be pulling the freshman wing's redshirt to help spread backcourt minutes around.

There was plenty of skepticism about Agbaji's readiness, which turned out to be unwarranted. He played 25 minutes and looked incredibly comfortable with the speed of the college game. He scored seven points on five shots, including a deep three. He also grabbed four boards, an assist, two steals and a block. He'll no doubt have some rough patches ahead of him as a freshman getting thrown into conference play, but he already seems to have added another legitimate option to the rotation.

Of course, all else aside, we all know why the Jayhawks REALLY won this one:

Has Kansas ever legitimately won a basketball game?