But even without Self and some key players from last season’s national title team, the Jayhawks looked like a national contender once again. Kansas freshman Grady Dick came alive in crunch time for three clutch buckets in the final two and a half minutes, two of which gave the Jayhawks the lead. His diving, twisting layup with 1:04 left made it 65-62 for the Jayhawks, who rallied from a six-point deficit late in the second half. Dick was held scoreless for the half until the end of the game, but finished with 14 points for the game. For most of the second half, the Jayhawks essentially fed junior wing Jalen Wilson, who is the leading returning scorer after losing stars like Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun to the NBA draft. Wilson finished with a game-high 25 points to help the Jayhawks ride out a second-half storm. Duke trailed by 11 points early, but settled down as the game wore on with freshman forward Kyle Filipowski standing out for his aggressiveness in the second half. Filipovski led the Blue Devils with 17 points and 14 rebounds, but was just 6 of 18 from the floor. Jeremy Roach added 16 points for Duke.
Both teams are plagued by poor shooting
Duke had hit a respectable 34 percent of its 3-point attempts through two games entering Tuesday, but the Blue Devils went cold from beyond the arc against Kansas. Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor were each 1-for-5 from deep and Filipowski was 1-for-6 while Jaylen Blakes and Jacob Grandison went 0-for-5. Kansas wasn’t much better as the Jayhawks hit just 3 of 19 attempts from 3-point range, but KU had more success attacking the rim. Overall, Kansas shot 46.3 percent from the floor compared to Duke’s 35.8 percent. Small big man KJ Adams Jr. quietly made 4 of 4 attempts from the field without being the focal point of KU’s offense. His work against Duke’s much taller bigs was enviable, but he handled it well enough to allow the Jayhawks to capitalize in other ways.
Kansas shows its wings
KU’s capitalization was through the aggressiveness of its versatile wing corps. Wilson got into the lane against whoever was guarding him and Dick was able to get loose in big moments. Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar also provided a big boost in the first half, particularly early when he was often guarded by Filipowski, a 7-footer. McCullar scored eight of his 12 points in the first half. He had six early as the Jayhawks opened up a 17-6 lead in less than seven minutes. The size and versatility of the Wilson-Dick-McCullar trio stood out for Kansas. Although just three games into his career, Dick looks capable of playing a role similar to the one Christian Braun played for the Jayhawks on their way to a national title last season. While replacing Ochai Agbaji will be a bit more difficult, it’s clear that KU has the perimeter weapons necessary to be a nightmare again.
Key players are missing from the action
Neither team had their full roster available. One of Duke’s five-star freshmen, versatile wing Dariq Whitehead, has yet to make his debut while recovering from offseason foot surgery. The 6-6 wing would give Duke another versatile defender to deploy against Wilson and Dick. However, Kansas was without two players. Freshman guard MJ Rice (illness) and sophomore guard Zach Clemence (injury) were unavailable. Rice is a McDonald’s All-American who played a significant role off the bench last week, and Clemens is a sophomore competing for frontcourt minutes.
