McCullar returns to the lineup as top-seeded Kansas routs Howard

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Kansas coach Bill Self wasn’t in the arena for an NCAA tournament opener at Des Moines, Iowa, but guard Kevin McCullar, Jr. was.

With San Antonio’s McCullar returning to the lineup after sitting out a Big 12 title-game loss to Texas, the top-seeded Jayhawks stormed to a 96-68 victory over the Howard University Bison Thursday in a round-of-64 West region game.

The victory allowed the top-seeded Jayhawks to advance to play the No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks in the round of 32 on Saturday. Arkansas downed ninth-seeded Illinois, 73-63.

Self’s status for the next round remains in question following a heart procedure and hospitalization last week.

The setback caused him to miss last Saturday’s Big 12 championship game, a 76-56 loss to Texas in Kansas City.

Though he was released from a Kansas City-area hospital on Sunday, the two-time NCAA championship coach wasn’t on the bench for the Jayhawks as they took the floor in Des Moines for the tournament opener.

Led by assistant coach Norm Roberts, the Jayhawks steadied themselves after a shaky start, shot 52 percent from the field in a fast-paced game and blew out the Bison. Jalen Wilson scored 20 points and freshman Gradey Dick added 19 points and 11 rebounds for Kansas.

McCullar, a former standout at San Antonio’s Wagner High School, enjoyed a solid game across the board with 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists. It was McCullar’s first NCAA tournament game with the Jayhawks after an offseason transfer from Texas Tech.

In his first season at Kansas, he was named to the Big 12’s all-defensive team and helped the Jayhawks to the conference’s regular-season title. Kansas finished 13-5 in conference, a game ahead of Texas and two games in front of Kansas State and Baylor.

Islanders ousted

A spirited run by the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders ended Thursday in Birmingham, Ala. The top-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide, backed by a home-state crowd, blew out the Islanders 96-75 in the South region round of 64.

Islanders coach Steve Lutz, an East Central High School graduate, led his team to a 24-11 record and the first NCAA victory in school history.

Point guard Jalen Jackson, from Wagner, scored 22 on Tuesday night in a round-of-68 victory over the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks at Dayton, Ohio. Jackson couldn’t get it going against the Crimson Tide, finishing with four points and three assists.

Freshmen pace No. 14 Kansas past TCU, 82-77, in OT

Kansas coach Bill Self started four freshman in Fort Worth Monday night in hopes of lighting a spark for the 14th-ranked Jayhawks.

Two of them answered with standout performances in a 82-77 victory in overtime against the TCU Horned Frogs at Schollmaier Arena.

In a game Kansas needed to win to stay in the race for its 15th-straight Big 12 title, freshmen guards Devon Dotson and Ochai Agbaji combined for 45 points.

Dotson produced a career-high 25 and also pulled down 10 rebounds. Agbaji added 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Desmond Bane led the Horned Frogs with 18 points.

Trailing by 12 with nine minutes remaining, TCU rallied with a 20-8 run to tie it at the end of regulation.

TCU had a chance to win at the buzzer, but guard Kendrick Davis couldn’t get a shot off in time.

Kansas played without senior guard Lagerald Vick (leave of absence) and sophomore forward Marcus Garrett (injury).

Standout power forward Dedric Lawson and two other Kansas players fouled out, leaving the Jayhawks scrambling to win it in the extra period.

Down by five early in overtime, the Horned Frogs rallied to tie on a JD Miller hook shot with 1:29 remaining.

Dotson, a 6-2 guard from Charlotte, N.C., answered for Kansas by making six of six free throws down the stretch.

Records

Kansas 19-6, 8-4
TCU 17-7, 5-6

Texas Tech makes history with first victory at Kansas

The Texas Tech Red Raiders guarded the three-point line effectively and came away with an impressive 85-73 Big 12 road victory at Kansas Tuesday night.

It was the first win by the Red Raiders at historic Phog Allen Fieldhouse in 18 tries, the Associated Press reported.

A good argument can be made that the Red Raiders won the game with their perimeter defense.

Kansas hit 17 of 35 three-point shots in a 92-86 win at Texas on Friday night.

Texas Tech didn’t allow the defending conference champions to shoot like that two games in a row, limiting the Jayhawks to 6 of 26 from long distance .

As a result, the 18th-ranked Red Raiders improved to 13-1 overall and 2-0 in conference under second-year coach Chris Beard.

The 10th-ranked Jayhawks, under veteran coach Bill Self, fell to 11-3 and 1-1.

“It’s impossible to stop ’em,” Beard said. “You just try to contain ’em, and you try to contest shots.

“Like, the way they shot the ball in Austin the other night, they’re not going to get beat, cause Texas did a good job contesting most of ’em. They’ll play on the final Monday (of the NCAA tournament, if they shoot well).

“You got to be fortunate and tonight, we were. They got some good looks. We made some mistakes on switches. So we were fortunate tonight. But you got to give our guys credit. I did feel like there was a sense of urgency to guard the three-point line.”

Kansas guard Devonte’ Graham led all scorers with 27 points, but he didn’t have much help.

In contrast, ten players played for the Red Raiders and nine of them scored.

Senior Keenan Evans led Texas Tech with 15 points. Justin Gray, Norense Odiase and Jarrett Culver added 12 apiece. Zhaire Smith scored 11.