No. 1 Kansas jumped out of the gates early, then overcame a second-half ejection of All-America middle Hunter Dickinson Tuesday for a tense 75-72 win over Eleventh-ranked Duke Tuesday night time.
The Jayhawks secured the high-profile win in Las Vegas whereas limiting Duke’s Cooper Flagg to 13 factors and forcing the freshman phenom into 4 turnovers. Flagg’s supporting forged led a number of runs to maintain issues shut earlier than the tone of the sport took a dramatic flip halfway by way of the second half.
With Kansas main 57-55, Dickinson grabbed an offensive rebound in site visitors and was undercut by Duke’s Maliq Brown. Each gamers fell to the ground with their our bodies entangled. Whereas on the ground, Dickinson kicked Brown within the head together with his proper foot, and a quick scuffle ensued.
Officers assessed Brown with a private foul on the ground, then went to the monitor. After a prolonged overview, they issued a flagrant 2 technical foul to Dickinson, a penalty the comes with an ejection. Dickinson’s night time was executed, and he was required to go away the Kansas bench.
Dickinson remained on the bench earlier than officers observed that he was nonetheless there on the subsequent break in motion. He was finally led off the courtroom with an escort.
The sport was a back-and-forth battle the remainder of the way in which earlier than Duke had a take a look at a go-ahead shot within the sport’s closing seconds whereas trailing, 72-71. Kansas defenders smothered Kon Knueppel’s runner within the lane with 3.3 seconds remaining, and Kansas guard Rylan Griffen grabbed the rebound.
Griffen hit two free throws on the opposite finish to increase the result in three, and Duke could not reply on its closing possession with 3.3 seconds remaining. Knueppel had one final take a look at a 3-pointer, nevertheless it rolled off the rim as the ultimate buzzer sounded.
It added as much as one other sturdy displaying from Kansas towards a high opponent to enhance to to 6-0. The win was a second for the Jayhawks over a top-11 opponent after they withstood a second-half rally from then-No. 9 North Carolina at house on Nov. 8.
On Tuesday, Kansas maintained its composure down with out its greatest participant down the stretch.
