LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kevin McCullar Jr. was returning from injury and had 17 points with 10 rebounds, Jalen Wilson added 15 points and 13 boards, and ninth-seeded Kansas rolled on to a 91-65 win over Seton Hall Thursday night at the Big East Big 12 Battle.
KJ Adams had 11 points, DaJuan Harris Jr. had 10 with seven assists and Ernest Udeh Jr. also had 10 for the Jayhawks (8-1), who now have more than a week off before taking on bitter rivals Missouri for the first time visit a decade next saturday.
The Jayhawks tumbled past the Tigers 102-65 last year as they resumed their streak after a nine-year hiatus following Missouri’s departure from the SEC. Kansas has not faced them on the street since losing on February 4, 2012.
Kadary Richmond had 17 points but also turned the ball seven times for the Pirates (4-4), who were just 4 of 19 in the 3-point arc and lost their third straight game. Tyrese Samuel added with 16 points.
The teams met for only the third time and the first time since 2018 when the Jayhawks defeated Seton Hall in the second round of the NCAA tournament. They played for the state championship that year.
Current champions Kansas built a huge first-half lead against the Pirates on Thursday night. But instead of starting one of their usual runs to control the game, the Jayhawks methodically extended their lead for the first 20 minutes, using their rim speed to get easy rim baskets.
Kansas led 40-29 at the break. Harris was 4-4 with five assists at this point, the best of which came in the middle of the half when diminutive guard KJ Adams found for an ally-oop dunk that turned into a three-pointer.
Meanwhile, Seton Hall failed to fire a shot.
The Pirates missed their first eight from beyond the arc, walked 19 of 32 from the foul line and rarely got anything that wasn’t on the basket. And that made it seemingly impossible to dig out of their halftime hole.
By the time KC Ndefo rolled in his first 3, the Jayhawks had extended their lead to 50-31 with 14 1/2 minutes left.
Poor shooting coupled with turnover problems proved too much for Seton Hall to overcome.
THE TAKE AWAY
Seton Hall was similarly poor in losses against Iowa, Oklahoma and Siena when the Pirates were 1-of-9 from the 3-point line in a 65-60 loss at their last timeout. They were 20 of 32 from the foul line in that game.
Kansas forced the Pirates to 16 turnovers while conceding 11 of their own, and they had a huge advantage on the boards, meaning the Jayhawks simply had more offensive opportunities. They also took advantage of them.
NEXT
Seton Hall meets Lincoln on Sunday.
Kansas has the week off before visiting the Tigers.
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AP College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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