Dajuan Harris Jr. led No. 1 Kansas with 17 points in head coach Bill Self’s 800th career win, an 84-66 victory over UNC Wilmington on Tuesday night in Lawrence, Kan.
Hunter Dickinson had his third double-double of the season for Kansas (5-0) with 15 points and a season-high 15 rebounds. David Coit came off the bench to score 13 points, one of four Jayhawks with double-digit points in the victory.
Self became the fourth-fastest coach to 800 wins, according to Kansas athletics, doing so in 1,048 games.
Khamari McGriff paced the Seahawks (3-1) with 18 points, while Noah Ross finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
After going up 20 points with 8:00 remaining, UNCW battled back, scoring 15 of the next 22 points, including hitting 3 of 4 shots from deep to keep Kansas on its toes until the closing minutes.
The Jayhawks responded, going on a six-point run that extended the home side’s lead back up to 18 points with three minutes remaining, stopping the UNCW momentum.
Kansas had a five-point lead at halftime due in part to strong rebounding by the Seahawks, who had nine offensive boards in the first half.
Coming out of halftime, the Jayhawks showed increased defensive pressure that led to chances offensively, with UNCW starting the second half missing its first nine shots from the field. Kansas, on the other hand, went 7-of-8 to start the half and increased their lead to 17 points.
Overall, the Kansas defense held UNC Wilmington to 33.3 percent shooting in the second half, with nine of its 28 points in the half coming from the free-throw line. Kansas outshot UNCW 54.8 percent to 37.5 percent for the game.
Even with Kansas center Dickinson playing formidably in the paint, UNCW went to the paint for scoring, with McGriff leading the Seahawks on 6-of-8 shooting. Donovan Newby, who led UNCW scoring 22.7 points per game entering Tuesday, was stifled by the Jayhawks, limited to seven points on 2-of-9 shooting and 1-of-6 from beyond the arc.
With 4:52 remaining in the first half, Kansas lost Flory Bidunga when he rolled his left ankle while playing defense. The freshman needed help off the court and didn’t return to the game. At the time of injury, Bidunga led bench scorers with six points off the bench on 3-of-3 shooting, after entering the day with nine points per game.
–Field Level Media
