Jayhawks maul Raiders, 66-62

Kansas is now 31-1 when Udoka Azubuike puts up 15 or more points in a game. Devon Dotson led Kansas with 17 points, but Doke’s double-double powered the Jayhawks to their 15th regular season title in 17 years under Bill Self.

As the final score indicates, the contest was mostly neck-and-neck throughout, save for a 12-2 “spurt” over the final 8 minutes of the first half where Kansas built an 8-point, 32-24 halftime lead. Texas Tech went scoreless for 6:51 of game time, but Kansas didn’t exactly capitalize on the opportunity to build a large lead. Instead, the Jayhawks would have to be content with the modest 8-point margin at halftime.

By the 14-minute mark of the second half, Tech had tied it back up again, and even took the lead at 44-43 with 11:00 to play. Ochai Agbaji answered with a 3-pointer, and although Tech would tied it up again at 57-all with 2:16 to play, Kansas would not trail the rest of the afternoon. A dunk by Doke with 1:50 to play followed by a Christian Braun steal and layup gave Kansas the margin they would need to close out the Red Raiders on Senior Day in Lubbock.

In case you weren’t aware, this Kansas team is good. They just won 17 Big 12 games, including going unbeaten on the road. They won this game despite shooting 23% from 3 (4-17) and just 12-20 (60%) from the line. Despite that, they still have the league’s best offense and best defense. Azubuike even played the last four minutes of the game with 4 fouls. They can gut out wins like this or they can run and gun with the best.

Here’s to nine more games this year!

Up next, Kansas will play the 1:30 PM (local time) game in Kansas City in the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday, March 12. The opponent is still TBD.