LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas men’s basketball stretched its winning streak in home openers to 50 games on Monday night, slugging Summit League team Omaha, 89-64, at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU junior forward Jalen Wilson came close to recording the third official triple-double in school history, scoring 19 points with 11 rebounds and seven assists, while Gradey Dick contributed a game-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting (4-of-6 from three). The Jayhawks won their first of four games to be coached by 11th-year KU assistant Norm Roberts.
Roberts has accepted the responsibility of leading the team on game nights during head coach Bill Self’s four-game suspension related to the NCAA case involving KU basketball.
Bobby Pettiford scored a career-high 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting. KJ Adams grabbed a career-best nine rebounds, while Dajuan Harris contributed 11 points and eight assists, as KU kept alive that streak of home-opening victories that started in 1973-74 under head coach Ted Owens. KU coaches Larry Brown (5-0) and Roy Williams (15-0) never lost a home opener. Bill Self is 19-0 in home openers.
Wilson, a 6-8, 225-pound native of Denton, Texas, hit 7-of-16 shots overall and went 3-of-7 from three. Kevin McCullar had 10 points and three rebounds. Ernest Udeh posted five points and five boards for KU.
Jaeden Marshall led Omaha with 13 points.
Wilson scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting, grabbed eight rebounds and dished four assists in the first half as KU raced to a 46-33 lead at the break.
Adams, a sophomore forward, also had eight rebounds, three assists and two points in the half. Harris had six points and four assists.
KU rolled to an early 23-12 lead with 10:48 left in the half. Wilson had eight points, while Dick and Pettiford scored four apiece in that stretch.
KU had four steals and forced seven Omaha turnovers in the early going. The Jayhawks advanced the lead to 32-16 on a Harris layup and forced the Mavs to call a timeout with 7:10 left in the half. The halftime lead fell to 13 when the Mavs hit a three to beat the buzzer.
Omaha outscored KU 10-4 to open the second half to reduce a 13-point halftime deficit to 50-43 at the 16:52 mark.
KU scored three quick baskets on a shot in the lane by Wilson, a driving layup by Dick and a dunk by McCullar off a steal, extending the lead to 56-43 two minutes later. After an Omaha timeout, KU scored two more baskets on a dunk by Udeh off a pass from McCullar and a dunk by Dick to put the Jayhawks up 17, 60-43.
KU officials said before the game that Monday’s result would not go on the all-time coaching records of Self or Roberts. The four games to start the season will go as “program wins” or “program losses,” with no individual coach getting the W or L.
