LAWRENCE, Kan. -- The No. 5-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, who hit 64.1% of their shots while putting on a dazzling offensive display, rolled to a 102-83 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats on Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
Ochai Agbaji scored 23 points, with seven rebounds and five assists, while Christian Braun had 20 points, and an identical seven rebounds and five assists as KU completed a regular-season home-and-home sweep of rival Kansas State for the third straight season.
Jalen Wilson scored 17 points and Mitch Lightfoot added 13 points for the Jayhawks (23-4, 12-2), who defeated K-State for the 16th consecutive time in the fieldhouse, a streak that started during the 2006-07 season.
Joseph Yesufu and Jalen Coleman-Lands contributed nine points apiece — Coleman-Lands hit three three-pointers and Yesufu two‚ as KU cashed 15 of 24 three-pointers to K-State’s 11 of 32. The Jayhawks won their seventh straight game overall and 15th in the last 16 games versus K-State.
Markquis Nowell scored 20 points while Nijel Pack added 13 for the Wildcats (14-13, 6-9), who also lost to KU, 78-75, on Jan. 22 at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan. Mike McGuirl and Selton Miguel had 13 points apiece for K-State on Tuesday. Mark Smith had nine rebounds and 11 points. Nowell had eight assists. Dajuan Harris had seven assists for KU.
According to the KU media guide, the Jayhawks’ 102 points were one shy of the most scored in a KU-K-State game. KU scored 103 during the 2001-02 season at Allen.
The Jayhawks hit 22 of 35 shots for a sizzling 62.9% the first half in building a 53-43 lead. Agbaji scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while Braun had eight points and Wilson seven in the fast-paced half.
Pack and Nowell had 11 points apiece for K-State, which hit 44.4% (16 of 36). KU and K-State each hit seven threes the first 20 minutes The Wildcats were 7 of 18 and KU 7 of 13 from beyond the arc.
The Jayhawks led by as many as 16 points (46-30 with 4 minutes, 19 seconds left in the half). K-State cut the deficit to seven points (46-39) at 2:45.
Braun hit a three, then scored a pair of baskets on the break (that’s seven straight points for KU and the Jayhawks led 63-49, with 16:25 to play. Braun scored his ninth point of the second half and KU led 67-52 at 14:54.
The Jayhawks kept rolling and it was 83-63 at 8:56.
KU on Tuesday wore alternate jerseys to honor KU’s LaVannes Squires (1952-54) and K-State’s Gene Wilson (1950-52, 1954-56), who were the first Black players at their respective institutions to receive a basketball scholarship and were among the first to break the color barrier in the Big Seven Conference.
KU will meet Baylor at 7 p.m., Saturday in Waco, Texas. K-State will meet Iowa State at 1 p.m., Saturday, at Bramlage Coliseum.
