Kansas Jayhawks take down UNC-Wilmington Seahawks 84-66
The Kansas Jayhawks are still undefeated after withstanding a tough battle against UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday, besting the Seahawks 84-66 to improve to 5-0 this season.
Top-ranked KU led for nearly the entire game, 38:31 of game time to be exact, but UNCW kept the score competitive for most of the evening. The deficit was as close as 12 points with four minutes left before the Jayhawks pulled away late.
Two of the KU’s most experienced players were also the biggest stars in the victory, fifth-year senior center Hunter Dickinson and sixth-year senior guard Dajuan Harris.
Dickinson set a new season high in rebounds with 15, paired with 15 points for his third double-double of the season. That’s also the 20th double-double of his Kansas career and the 51st of his career overall.
Harris, meanwhile, scored a season-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He also doled out a game-high six assists. That’s the most points he’s scored in a game since setting his career high of 23 points at last season’s Champions Classic.
Two other Jayhawks cracked double figures in scoring on Tuesday night, including senior guard David Coit with 13 points off the bench and senior guard Zeke Mayo adding 10 despite going 0-of-4 from three-point range.
Khamari McGriff led the Seahawks in scoring with a game-high 18 points in the losing effort.
As a team, Kansas shot 54.8% from the floor but just 24% from three and 62.5% at the free throw line. UNCW was held to just 37.5% shooting overall.
KU lost freshman center Flory Bidunga to an injury late in the first quarter after he scored six early points. Coach Bill Self didn’t appear especially concerned after the game, however, saying that he hopes Bidunga can return to practice by Friday.
Next up for Kansas is a meeting with the Duke Blue Devils in Las Vegas next Tuesday night. That game will tip off at 8:00 p.m. central time.
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