LAWRENCE, KS--Top-ranked Kansas got a career-high 22 points from KJ Adams, and the Jayhawks handed Furman its worst loss under eighth-year head coach Bob Richey, downing the Paladins 86-51 before an impressive crowd of 15,300 fans at historic Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
Furman fell to 7-1, while Kansas improved to 7-0. The 35-point loss was Furman's worst losing margin since Feb. 22, 2015, when the Paladins matched Saturday's 35-point loss with an 84-49 setback at UNC Greensboro.
Adams finished the game an impressive 10-of-12 from the field and also added six rebounds and three assists. The Jayhawks were highly efficient offensively, connecting on 60.9% (39-of-64) from the field for the game, as well as dishing out 25 assists on 39 made field goals, and the Jayhawks did most of their damage in the paint, outscoring the Paladins 62-14 in the paint.
The win would see the Jayhawks improve to 2-0 all-time against the Paladins in the first meeting between the two in 31 years. It would also see the Jayhawks improve to 158-6 vs non-conference foes at Allen Fieldhouse in the Bill Self era (2003-present), as well as marking another milestone for the Jayhawks program, with the win over Furman marking the 2,400th win. That win total is second to only the University of Kentucky, which has 2,405 wins in its rich basketball history. The Jayhawks now sport a 2,400-896 all-time record as a basketball program.
Adams was joined in double figures in the contest by Hunter Dickinson, who finished with 10 points, six rebounds, one steal and one assist in 24 minutes of action. The Naismith Award candidate scored six of his 10 points in the opening half of play, while Adams has 13 of his game-high 22 in the opening 20 minutes of basketball.
Alabama transfer and wing guard Rylan Griffin added 10 points off the bench, as he finished his evening by connecting on 4-of-8 from the field to go along with four rebounds, two steals and one block.
DaJuan Harris Jr. had a strong outing for the Jayhawks, as the graduate senior guard scored eight points and dished out eight assists in the win. Zeke Mayo finished his afternoon with seven points, six assists, four rebounds and had one steal.
Meanwhile, it was a struggle for much of the night offensively for the Paladins, who had been sterling in that area for much of the season, as the Paladins shot just 29.8% (17-of-57) from the field and only 23.7% (9-of-38) from three-point range. The Paladins finished with just 11 assists and turned the ball over 11 times.
The Paladins had two players finish in double figures, with Eddrin Bronson leading the way with a career-high 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field, which included a 4-for-10 shooting effort from three-point land. Bronson, a redshirt freshman from Tampa, is starting to come around and gain more confidence offensively after spending most of the off-season recovering from a foot injury.
"Just coming back from surgery from early in the year and so this is my first year playing basketball since I redshirted last year and so it was just getting that game experience and my teammates place a lot of faith in me and they have been encouraging me to just be more aggressive offensively," Bronson said of his performances over the past couple of games.
The other Paladin in double figures in the contest was graduate senior Garrett Hien, who finished the contest with 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists, as he continued his strong play in non-conference play for the 'Dins and it marked the fourth time in eight games this season that he has scored in double figures. Hien finished the game connecting on 4-of-12 shots from the field and was 2-for-6 from three-point range and 2-of-5 from the charity stripe.
Kansas finished the game holding advantages in points in the paint (62-14), total assists (25-11), bench points (35-22), points off turnovers (16-5), fast-break points (18-2), total rebounds (42-26), and second-chance points (9-2).
How It Happened:
Kansas got off to a strong start behind the defensive play of KJ Adams and a pair of buckets from Hunter Dickinson, but Furman would stay in the game for much of the opening half of play, despite being outrebounded and being overmatched in the paint.
But Furman used good shooting from long range to stay within striking distance, as the Paladins connected on four of their first seven attempts from long-range to hang around for much of the opening half.
I appeared Kansas might be ready to blow the game open in the opening half of play when David Coit's layup made it a 27-18 lead for the Jayhawks with 8:26 left in the opening half. However, the Paladins responded with an 8-0 run, which included two three-pointers from Eddrin Bronson and a Cooper Bowser layup, as the second of two Bronson's got the Paladins to within 27-26 and forced Bill Self to burn a timeout with 6:23 remaining in the half.
It would be just what the Jayhawks needed for what would be a strong finish to the opening 20 minutes of basketball, as Kansas regrouped and outscored the Paladins 12-2 down the stretch, which included a Flory Bidunga jumper at the buzzer to take a 39-28 lead--it's first double-digit lead of the night--and all the momentum into the halftime locker room.
The trend of Kansas scoring in the paint and in transition would into the opening seven minutes of the second half, as the Jayhawks opened up the latter 20 minutes by getting out to an 18-6 advantage following a three-point play the old-fashioned way to give the Jayhawks a 57-35 lead with 13:22 left. All told, in roughly 13-minute span covering two halves, the Jayhawks outscored Furman 30-9 to break open the game. During one juncture in the early portions of the second half, Kansas connected on 10-of-11 shots from the field.
The Jayhawks eventually extended their lead to 62-38 on a running teardrop in the lane from Coit with 11:51 remaining and the lead would eventually 30 when Rakease Passmore connected on a three-pointer with 4:03 remaining to make it a 77-47 Kansas lead.
"It was going decent when we were making shots and it didn't go decent when we weren't making shots," head coach Bob Richey said.
"It's that kind of game right?...And when it's a game a like this, you've got to keep it within 10 and keep some game pressure on them because once it gets to 15 plus and everybody loosens up and the crowd gets into it and everybody is making shots and on the other side you tighten up and I thought we had a little bit of that today...I thought there were some positives and we're going to learn a lot from this game for sure and we're not going to see another team like this unless we make the Final Four," Richey added.
Furman returns to action to close out its road trip next Wednesday evening, as the Paladins will visit Florida Gulf Coast, who posted an impressive 80-78 win over Florida Atlantic on a buzzer-beating effort by Jevin Muniz on a 14-footer as time expired, as the Eagles improved to 3-4 on the young season. Tip-off at Alico Arena between the Paladins and Eagles is set for 7 p.m. EST.
Furman will face FGCU as a part of the SoCon-ASUN Alliance. The Paladins won their first game in the Alliance, with a 78-69 win over Jacksonville at Bon Secours Wellness Arena back on Nov. 11. FGCU lost its first game of the Alliance, with a 73-64 setback at UNC Greensboro to open the season back on Nov. 4.
Kansas returns to action on Wednesday night, making the trip to Omaha to take on Creighton (5-3). Tip-off for that contest is set for 8:30 p.m. EST.
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