Kansas basketball goes undefeated at home heading into postseason play:
In the final game of the season, Kansas basketball was able to claim one final win and finish the season with a perfect 17-0 record in Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks defeated the Baylor Bears 78-70 and will finish the regular season with a 22-8 record.
The Jayhawks’ perfect home record is the 20th time in program history they have gone undefeated in Allen Fieldhouse.
As opposed to previous years, the final game of the season did not matter too much to Kansas as it lost any hope of winning a 15th consecutive Big 12 titles with its loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman on Tuesday.
Despite what some call a let-down season, the Jayhawks did not hang their heads and coasted to victory.
Helmed by junior forward Dedric Lawson’s second half dominance, Kansas controlled the scoreboard and made sure to keep Baylor out of the contest. Lawson finished the game with 23 points and 14 rebounds, giving him 20 double-doubles on the season.
The final box score also secured Lawson as the Big 12 conference leader in both points and rebounds, the first Big 12 player to do so since Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin a decade ago.
The final home game of the season is senior night for most programs but for Kansas, there was no seniors on the roster after LaGerald Vick took his leave of absence. The night was still special however as the Jayhawks honored their senior managers to keep the spirit of senior night alive.
To our senior managers who have given so much to our program, THANK YOU! Your commitment and dedication does not go unnoticed #KUbball pic.twitter.com/c3TJtnbbeN
— Kansas Men’s Basketball (@KUHoops) March 9, 2019
Freshman big David McCormack showed light once again by scoring 12 points, ten of which came in the first half. McCormack’s double digit performance gives him two in the past two games after going the first 26 games with only two total double digit games.
Freshman point guard Devon Dotson continued his coming of age by scoring 15 points and hitting free throws in the clutch to secure the Jayhawks’ victory. Dotson finished the regular season averaging 11.7 points per game and 12.3 points per game during conference play.
He also averaged 3.5 assists a game.
Moving into postseason play, Kansas will enter the Big 12 tournament as the three-seed and will likely have to play the Texas Longhorns in the first round.
According to Joe Lunardi, the Jayhawks currently sit as a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament and will need to have success in their conference tournament to improve that seed. With a loss in the first round of the conference tournament, Kansas could likely fall to a five-seed.
The Jayhawks’ season is not over and will need to continue to keep their heads up to make a run in the NCAA Tournament.