Courtesy of Kansas Athletics
FORT WORTH, Texas – The No. 1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks opened their 50th NCAA Tournament appearance in style Thursday night, topping 16th-seeded Texas Southern 83-56 at Dickies Arena.
The Jayhawks won their 15th-straight first round game in the NCAA Tournament and its 28-point cushion at halftime was the program’s largest in an NCAA Tournament game since being up 29 on Marquette in the 2003 Final Four.
The win improved Kansas to 29-6 on the season. Texas Southern finished its season with a 19-13 mark.
Kansas had five players score in double figures, led by Remy Martin, who had 15 points and four assists in 21 minutes. Christian Braun had a season-high four 3-pointers and had 14 points, five rebounds and four assists in the win.
The Jayhawks were hot from the floor in the opening half, shooting 59 percent. Kansas, the top seed in the Midwest Region, knocked down 20 of 34 shots with nine different players getting on the scoresheet. Dajuan Harris Jr., led the way for Kansas in the first half with 12 points, marking his seventh double figure scoring game of the season.
Kansas took its first double-digit lead of the game less than eight minutes into the contest when Braun hit a 3-pointer in transition off a pass from Jalen Wilson to make it 17-7. The Jayhawks continued to build their lead, extending it to 13 on a steal and dunk from Martin, and then 17 on back-to-back buckets from Martin and David McCormack.
The lead reached 20 for the first time when Martin hit a 3-pointer with 5:55 left in the half to make it 34-14. Harris hit a 3-pointer later in the half to make it 42-17 with 2:44 to play. A 3-pointer from Jalen Coleman-Lands right before the buzzer pushed it to a 28-point lead.
Kansas led by at least 23 points the entire way the second half and shot 41 percent from the floor in the second. Wilson and Agbaji both had 11 points in the win for Kansas. McCormack had nine points and a team-high seven rebounds in 23 minutes.
The Jayhawks shot 50 percent from the floor (34-68) in the win and outrebounded Texas Southern, 44-32, while knocking down 11 of 23 3-point attempts in the win. Kansas improved to 24-3 on the season when leading at half and 22-0 on the year when holding opponents under 70 points.
Up Next:
Kansas will face Creighton in the Round of 32 on Saturday at Dickies Arena at 1:40 p.m., CT on CBS. The winner will advance to Sweet 16 in Chicago.
