Courtesy of Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun each scored 18 points Saturday afternoon to lift No. 10/10 Kansas to a convincing 83-59 win over No. 8/8 Baylor at Allen Fieldhouse.
The 24-point win is the program’s largest over a ranked team in the regular season since beating No. 23 Texas by 30 on Feb. 29, 2016. It’s the largest margin of victory over an AP Top-10 team since an 87-57 win over No. 9 Oklahoma State on Jan. 10, 2007.
With Saturday’s win over the Bears, the Jayhawks moved to 19-3 overall and 8-1 in the Big 12. Baylor dropped to 19-4 and 7-3 in the Big 12.
Kansas dominated from start to finish on Saturday, using a hot start to jump on the visitors. The Jayhawks opened up a 23-7 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. Kansas opened 10-for-19 from the floor and forced two Baylor timeouts in the first nine minutes and five seconds. The second timeout came on the heels of a 9-0 Kansas run.
The Jayhawks never looked back from there. Kansas built an 18-point lead at the half, 39-21. Baylor shot just 8-for-31 from the floor and the 21 points marked a season low for the Bears in a half. Kansas did most of its damage in the paint and in transition, outscoring Baylor 28-10 in the paint and 13-2 in fast break points over the first half. Braun had 14 points and six rebounds in the first.
The second half was more of the same. The Jayhawks got the lead to 20 less than 2:30 into the second when Dajuan Harris connected on a field goal to make it 44-24. The lead kept getting bigger from there. A 3-pointer from Jalen Wilson at the 13:01 mark to make it 59-34 and push the lead to 25.
The lead grew to 31 with 8:28 to play when Jalen Coleman-Lands hit a jumper. An Agbaji layup with 3:37left make it 79-45 to give Kansas a 34-point lead, which was its largest of the day.
Braun finished with 10 rebounds to go with his 18 points to pick up his first double-double of the season and second of his career. Braun was 8-for-14 from the floor and also added three assists in 32 minutes. Agbaji had a season-high nine rebounds to go with his 18 points. Jalen Wilson finished with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while adding seven rebounds and four assists.
Super-senior Mitch Lightfoot also had a productive game with eight points and eight rebounds, while David McCormack came close to a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds. Harris had a game-high seven assists and has 15 assists over his last two games.
The Jayhawks won’t have long to enjoy the win. Kansas travels to No. 23 Texas for a Big Monday showdown in two days. Tip is scheduled for 8 p.m., on ESPN.
