LAWRENCE, Kan. – Following a solid postseason where he earned two most outstanding player honors and averaged over 22 points, Kansas redshirt sophomore guard Malik Newman has decided to turn professional and leave the KU program, Newman announced Wednesday.

“Malik has done everything that we had agreed to,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “He came to Kansas and knew after a redshirt year he would hopefully put himself into a position to be a professional basketball player after one year competing. He had a terrific season this year and was one of the best players in the NCAA tournament. I think this is good timing for Malik. We wish nothing but the best for him and appreciate all his efforts. We all know his best basketball is still ahead of him.”

“First off I want to thank God for the opportunity,” Newman said. “I want to thank Coach Self and the coaching staff for giving me this opportunity to come to Kansas. I definitely want to thank my teammates. The journey with these guys has been nothing short of amazing. My two years here was everything that I asked for. My redshirt year, I had a chance to develop and Coach Self took me under his wing and really prepared me. This year I had a chance to come out and play and this was the plan, to try to put myself in position to chase my dream. I sat down and talked with Coach Self and my family and this is the best time to do it. With that being said, I’ll forego my junior year at Kansas and I will put my name in the NBA Draft and plan on signing with an agent.”

“I cannot thank the Kansas fans enough,” Newman added. “They have been there since day one and have supported me throughout my two years at Kansas. I’ll always be a Jayhawk and this will always be home for me.”

Newman transferred to Kansas following the 2015-16 season at Mississippi State and sat out 2016-17 due to NCAA rules. The Jackson, Mississippi, guard started 33 of 39 games this last year and was the 2018 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, an all-conference honorable mention selection and member of the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team. He averaged 14.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and was twice named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. Newman’s 14.2 scoring average was 13th in the Big 12 and his 2.2 3-pointers made per game, 85 total, ranked seventh.

Newman was the Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player where he averaged 24.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in leading Kansas to the tourney title, March 8-10. He made 15 3-pointers in the three victories and scored 30 points against Oklahoma State in the event’s quarterfinals.

Like the Big 12 Tournament, Newman led Kansas in the NCAA Tournament where he averaged 21.6 points. He also pulled down 6.2 rebounds in KU’s five NCAA tourney contests and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Midwest Region. Included was a career-high 32-point effort in the 85-81 overtime win against Duke in the Elite Eight, advancing Kansas to its 15th Final Four.

Newman was a 2015 McDonald’s All-American who averaged 11.3 points his freshman year at Mississippi State before coming to Kansas.

— KU Athletics —

LOS ANGELES – Kansas senior Devonte’ Graham has been named to the 10-member 2018 Wooden Award All-America team, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced Wednesday on ESPNU. Additionally, Graham is one of five players invited for the Wooden Award presentation during the 2018 ESPN College Basketball Awards show, April 6, in Los Angeles.

Joining Graham on the 10-player team includes: Deandre Ayton (Arizona), Marvin Bagley III (Duke), Keita Bates-Diop (Ohio State), Trevon Bluiett (Xavier), Mikal Bridges (Villanova), Miles Bridges (Michigan State), Jalen Brunson (Villanova), Jevon Carter (West Virginia) and Trae Young (Oklahoma). Joining Graham at the ESPN College Basketball Awards show will be Ayton, Bagley III, Brunson and Young.

Also a finalist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award which will be at the same April 6 awards show, Graham is vying to become the second straight Jayhawk to win both the Cousy and Wooden awards. Frank Mason III was last year’s winner of both. Additionally, Kansas’ Danny Manning won the 1988 Wooden Award.

Voting took place from March 12-19, 2018, allowing voters to take into consideration the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Fans were able to vote through the voting site, sponsored by Wendy’s, at www.woodenawardvote.com. As insisted upon by Coach Wooden at the Award’s creation 42 years ago, all players were certified by their universities as meeting or exceeding the criteria of the John R. Wooden Award.

The 42nd annual presentation of the John R. Wooden Award to the men’s and women’s most outstanding college basketball player will be the anchor presentation of the ESPN College Basketball Awards Presented by Wendy’s on ESPN2 on Friday, April 6, 2018. The men’s and women’s John R. Wooden Award All American Teams will be honored during the ceremony, and the 2018 Wooden Award Legends of Coaching Trophy will be presented to Jay Wright, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Villanova.

About the John R. Wooden Award
Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation’s best basketball player at an NCAA Division I university who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress towards graduation and maintaining a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include Larry Bird (’79), Michael Jordan (’84), Tim Duncan (’97), Kevin Durant (’07), Candace Parker (’07 & ’08), Maya Moore (’09 & ’11), Chiney Ogwumike (’14), and last year’s recipients, Kelsey Plum of Washington and Frank Mason III of Kansas.

Since its inception, the John R. Wooden Award has contributed nearly one million dollars to the universities’ general scholarship fund in the names of the Wooden Award All American recipients and has sent more than 1,000 underprivileged children to week-long college basketball camps. Additionally, the John R. Wooden Award partners with the Special Olympics Southern California (SOSC) each year to host the Wooden Award Special Olympics Southern California Basketball Tournament. The day-long tournament brings together Special Olympics athletes and Wooden Award All Americans and coaches in attendance. It is hosted at the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the John R. Wooden Award Weekend.

— KU Athletics —

OMAHA, Neb. — Kansas is going back to the Final Four.

It’s hard to argue that Duke shouldn’t be headed there as well after the most riveting show of the NCAA tournament.

Malik Newman and the top-seeded Jayhawks got past their Elite Eight road block Sunday, knocking off second-seeded Duke 85-81 in overtime to clinch the program’s first trip to the Final Four since 2012.

Newman scored all 13 of the Jayhawks’ points in OT and finished with a career-high 32 to lead Kansas (31-7).

The Jayhawks will face fellow top seed Villanova on Saturday in San Antonio — the site of KU’s last title over Memphis in 2008 — after snapping a two-game losing skid in the regional finals.

“Everything we’ve been through…we do it for moments like this,” Kansas star Devonte’ Graham said. “Especially after the last two years, getting over the hump. It just feels (perfect).”

This was college basketball at its best, two blue bloods trading blows for 45 minutes in what was arguably the best game of March so far, one that featured 18 lead changes and 11 ties.

Had Grayson Allen’s bank shot to end regulation gone half an inch in a different direction, it might be Duke heading to South Texas.

But it didn’t, and instead the Jayhawks are moving on.

“It was an honor to play in this game,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who remained tied with UCLA legend John Wooden with 12 Final Four performances. “I think both teams were deserving of winning.”

Newman, a redshirt sophomore who came on late this season, drilled his fifth and final 3 from the corner to make it 81-78 with 1:49 left. Newman followed with four straight free throws, and the Jayhawks’ defense stiffened enough to knock the favored Blue Devils out of the tournament.

Trevon Duval scored 20 points, two shy of a career high, for Duke. Freshman star and future lottery pick Marvin Bagley added 16 points and 10 rebounds in what could have been his final game for the Blue Devils (29-8), who fell shy of their first Final Four trip since winning the national title in 2015.

Allen had 12 points for the Blue Devils, but the senior’s try at the regulation buzzer went in and then out and then off the rim before spinning away to force overtime.

“I was trying to drive right, he cut me off. Went back left. Their big stepped into help. I had to get a shot up over him. I tried to bank it in and it about went in,” said Allen, who finished his brilliant career with 1,996 points.

THE BIG PICTURE

Kansas: This might be the unlikeliest of coach Bill Self’s three Final Four squads. They are not stacked with obvious future NBA starters and they lost three times at home this season. But the Jayhawks banded together to win the Big 12’s regular season and conference titles and now the Midwest Region. By doing so, they proved to their coach that they were hardly soft — a claim that Self had made often earlier in the season. And with the final buzzer about to sound and the outcome suddenly in focus, Self clenched both of his fists and lifted his arms in the air for a celebration years in the making.

Duke: The Blue Devils might see four of their freshman stars bolt for the NBA Draft, an expected exodus led by Bagley, a likely top-five pick. Duke will also lose Allen, one of the best players in school history. Don’t cry for Coach K, who has four five-star recruits committed to join the program next year. But this season will likely be remembered as a lost opportunity — and for that Allen shot that went agonizingly out of the rim.

PIVOTAL MOMENT

Duval was a revelation in the opening half, scoring 13 points to give the Blue Devils a 36-33 lead that at times felt like it could’ve been bigger. But the Jayhawks opened the second with a 13-3 run, forcing Duke to answer quickly. The Blue Devils did just that, time and time again, until it had the lead in the final minute. But Kansas senior Svi Mykhailiuk drilled a 3 with 25.7 seconds left in the second half to knot the game at 72-all.

THE NUMBERS

Kansas outrebounded Duke 47-32, a staggering stat given that the Jayhawks barely outrebounded their opponents heading into the game. …Lagerald Vick had 14 points, Devonte’ Graham had 11 with six boards and six assists and Mykhailiuk had 11 points, 10 rebounds and five assists while helping defend Bagley. “Even though Malik scored a lot of points, I don’t think that anybody had a better game than Svi did,” Self said. … The Blue Devils were 7 of 29 on 3s.

HE SAID IT

“We didn’t even talk about going to the Final Four. All we talked about is Duke. I do think playing Duke in that game helped us. It was fun. I would be proud to have coached in that game even if the outcome is different,” Self said.

UP NEXT

Duke: Welcoming the next batch of one-and-done stars.

Kansas: The Jayhawks are in the Final Four for the 15th time.

— Associated Press —

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — For the third year in a row, Kansas made it through the Sweet 16 — although not before Clemson tried its hardest to add another wild chapter to an already unbelievable tournament.

The top-seeded Jayhawks brought at least a temporary halt to the insanity of this March, withstanding a ferocious rally by fifth-seeded Clemson on Friday for a too-close-for-comfort, 80-76 victory.

Malik Newman led the Jayhawks (30-7) with 17 points in a one-time runaway that got much closer and, quite frankly, won’t mean much to KU fans if their team can’t finish the job in the Midwest Region final Sunday.

As a top seed the last two seasons, Kansas made it through the regional semifinals, only to flop a game shy of the Final Four both times. In fact, this marks the sixth time Bill Self’s team has been seeded first since KU won it all in 2008; the Jayhawks haven’t made the Final Four one of those times.

“I think about it all the time. I just told the guys in the locker room…this year, we’ve got to get over the hump,” said senior Devonte’ Graham, who had 16 points.

Still, it could’ve ended on Friday — in horrifying fashion — after Clemson stormed back from a 20-point deficit that stunned a crowd filled mostly with fans from Lawrence and surrounding areas, which are only a few hours from Omaha.

“We just kind of played not to lose down the stretch,” Self said.

Clemson trailed 62-42, but climbed to within six with 2:27 left. Graham’s offensive rebound after a Svi Mykhailiuk miss at the 1:57 mark allowed the Jayhawks to run almost a minute off the clock.

Kansas didn’t score after Graham’s rebound, and the Tigers got the next board for a chance to cut it to a one-possession game. But Shelton Mitchell and Gabe DeVoe each missed from beyond the arc. From there, Kansas overcame a dogged Clemson press just long enough to ensure that the Tigers couldn’t pull any closer until the tail end.

DeVoe had a career-high 31 for Clemson (25-10), which couldn’t replicate the magic it showed in beating Auburn by 31 to reach its first Sweet 16 in 21 years.

“We didn’t have our best game. Sometimes that’s not easy to keep fighting like that,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said.

PIVOTAL MOMENT

Clemson had scored five straight points to cut KU’s lead to 35-27 late in the first half when Elijah Thomas, after a review, was called for a flagrant foul. Silvio De Sousa knocked down the free throws, Lagerald Vick buried a 3 and Kansas cruised into halftime ahead 40-27. Vick, Newman and Graham then opened the second half with 3s to extend the lead to 20.

BIG PICTURE

One of the most encouraging signs for Kansas was that it jumped ahead by 13 at halftime despite a 1-for-7 start by Graham, the Big 12 player of the year. Big man Udoka Azubuike looked strong in his first start of the tournament with 14 points and 11 rebounds in a tournament-high 25 minutes.

FOR REAL?

What a wild 12 months it’s been for Brownell, the Clemson coach. He entered the season on the hot seat after six straight seasons without even making the NCAA Tournament. But the Tigers reached the regional semifinals for the first time since 1997 even after losing Donte Grantham, arguably their best player. The big question next is whether 2017-18 will prove a one shot wonder or the start of something big in the Upstate. Clemson has spent money on facilities to become a basketball school — but will it ever get out of the shadow cast by Dabo Swinney’s football team?

TIGERS CLAW BACK

For the final 12 minutes, Clemson played like the team that throttled Auburn to earn a crack at the Jayhawks. The Tigers didn’t turn it over once down the stretch, and they finished 14 of 19 at the free throw line — which was a strong point all year. But while Kansas hardly looked like a No. 1 seed down the stretch, it did improve to 25-1 this season when leading at the break.

DOKE LOOKED DOPE

Azubuike finished with his sixth double-double of the season. His presence forced Clemson to give more space to KU’s shooters, who went 10 of 22 on 3s.

HE SAID IT

“This is the team everyone would have thought … would not be in this game. We’ve got a legitimate shot to go to San Antonio. I think we’ll play with no `what ifs.’ I think we’ll be loose,” Self said.

VEGAS KNOWS

Kansas came in as a 4 1/2-point favorite — a number that didn’t look to be in play … until it was.

— Associated Press —

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas football head coach David Beaty announced the promotion of Cassius Sendish from graduate assistant to a full-time coaching position on the Jayhawks staff Wednesday. Sendish, who spent the 2017 season working closely with defensive coordinator, Clint Bowen, in the KU secondary, will mentor the Kansas safeties.

Sendish replaces the departed Todd Bradford on the KU staff. Bradford, who spent two seasons on Beaty’s staff, is returning to a position in the private sector back near his family in Utah.

“We’ve known for some time that this was a possibility,” said Beaty. “A few weeks ago Todd came to me letting me know that after much thought and consideration, he felt like the opportunity that came his way back in the oil industry was just too good to pass up.

“Knowing this could be a possibility, we began the process of interviewing a number of candidates, including Cassius Sendish. Upon hearing Todd’s final decision and the completion of those interviews, it was clear that Cassius was the right man at the right time. I know that our players and entire staff have a ton of respect for him and we are excited for him to step into this role.”

Sendish spent the 2016 season on the KU staff, working with director of football technology, Jeff Love, in the football video department breaking down game and practice film for the coaches and players.

As a double major, Sendish is a 2015 graduate of KU with bachelor’s degrees in both sociology and communications studies. He was a two-year letter winner for the Jayhawks on the gridiron, starting all 24 games he played during his KU career. He served as a team captain in 2014 on his way to earning All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors and a spot on the Academic All-Big 12 Second Team. Sendish concluded his Jayhawk career with 137 tackles, 3.0 tackles-for-loss, five pass breakups, 1.0 sack and one fumble recovery he returned 30 yards for a touchdown.

“I am honored and proud to represent the University of Kansas football program,” said Sendish. “I hold this place near and dear to my heart and I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work at my alma mater. I can’t thank Coach Beaty and the rest of the football staff enough for allowing me to come aboard and be a part of something special.”

While it’s an exciting day for Sendish, it is a tough one for Bradford-who made the agonizing decision to step away.

“I am so grateful to David and Kansas for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the program,” said Bradford. “I enjoyed working alongside the entire defensive staff. It was a tough decision to make to walk away from a place that I love so much.

“It’s impressive to see the support that both Dr. Zenger and Chancellor Girod are providing the program. It is clear that they realize that David and the staff are on the right path and are doing everything they can to continue to get better. They are able to see the improvement that is happening every day in the program. Great things are coming at Kansas and I am just sad that I won’t be there when it happens.”

— KU Athletics —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas senior Devonte’ Graham has been named to the 2018 All-America First Team by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the organization announced Wednesday.

The NABC is among the outlets used for the official NCAA consensus All-America team and Graham is 3-for-3 on consensus All-America first teams as he was previously named to The Sporting News and USBWA All-America squads.

Joining Graham on NABC All-America First Team is Jalen Brunson (Villanova), Deandre Ayton (Arizona), Marvin Bagley III (Duke) and Trae Young (Oklahoma). There were three teams selected by the NABC which has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men’s basketball coaches. KU head coach Bill Self is the current president of the NABC.

This is the second-straight year a Kansas player has earned NABC All-America First Team honors. Jayhawk Frank Mason III earned the distinction last year and was also named the 2017 NABC Player of the Year, one of 10 national player of the year honors he garnered.

Graham has been named the 2017 Big 12 Player of the Year, All-Big 12 First Team, one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award and All-America First Team by The Sporting News, NCAA.com, the USBWA and the NABC. On the court, he also earned Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team honors after averaging 14.3 points and 10.0 assists in guiding Kansas to the tourney title.

On every national player of year watch list, Graham is the only player in NCAA Division I this season averaging 17.0-plus pts, 7.0-plus assists, 1.6-plus steals and fewer than 3.0 turnovers per game. Graham is fourth nationally, second in the Big 12, in assists per game at 7.5. The Raleigh, North Carolina, guard is second the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7, which is 33rd nationally. Graham is scoring 17.3 points per game, which is fourth in the conference and he is sixth in free throw percentage (83.3), fourth in 3-point field goals made (2.8), eighth in 3-point field goal percentage (40.4) and fifth in steals (1.6).

This season, Graham is logging 37.6 minutes per game this year, which ranks as the fifth highest average in a single season at KU and his 1,355 minutes are a KU single-season record. His 98 3-pointers made are fifth on the KU season list as last week he passed his own season high mark of 94 set in 2016-17. Graham’s 254 assists this season are second on the KU list.

No. 1 seed Kansas will play No. 5 seed Clemson (25-9, 11-7 ACC) in the Sweet 16 of the 2018 NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional on Friday, March 23, at 6 p.m. (Central) at CenturyLink Center Omaha.

— KU Athletics —

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Udoka Azubuike had practiced once in the last 11 days because of a lingering knee injury, and the mammoth Kansas forward’s three-minute stretch in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament was about as underwhelming as his herky-jerky free-throw stroke.

He managed to go 22 minutes against Seton Hall on Saturday night.

The Jayhawks needed all of them.

Azubuike stood toe-to-toe with the Pirates’ bruising Angel Delgado, and he drew enough attention on offense to spring his high-scoring guards for open looks. The result was a 28-point performance from teammate Malik Newman, 16 more from Svi Mykhailiuk, and a gritty 83-79 victory that pushed the top-seeded Jayhawks to their third consecutive Sweet 16.

“If `Doke wasn’t able to come back from his injury, we don’t win,” coach Bill Self said. “I was hoping for 20 minutes. That was what I was hoping. And he could have played more.”

Lagerald Vick added 13 points for Kansas (29-7), which converted every crucial play down the stretch to advance to the semifinals of the Midwest Region. The Jayhawks will face the winner of Sunday night’s game between Auburn and Clemson next week in Omaha, Nebraska.

Delgado finished with 24 points and 23 rebounds in a virtuoso effort for the No. 8 seed Pirates (22-11), who snapped a four-game NCAA Tournament skid in the opening round. But he was less effective when Azubuike was in the game, a matchup that often sounded like battleships colliding.

“It stinks, basically, to leave like this,” Delgado said, “because we had so much expectation. We wanted to win every game, be the best team in the tournament.”

Khadeen Carrington finished with 28 points, many of them on 3-pointers in the closing minutes, and Myles Powell added 14 as the pair of guards tried in vain to keep Seton Hall alive.

It was 71-66 with 53 seconds left when Devonte Graham made two free throws for Kansas. Carrington kept answering for the Pirates, but the Jayhawks were unflappable at the foul line.

“I think it was the four-minute timeout, Coach told us in the huddle we were in the bonus. Just get down there, keep getting fouls,” said Newman, the MVP of last week’s Big 12 Tournament. “I was able to hit them quick and I was able to get to the line and make my free throws.”

Kansas led just 31-26 at halftime, when Delgado had already piled up 12 points and 12 rebounds, and was forced to make some significant adjustments in the locker room.

On defense, Self called for double-teams on Delgado whenever he got the ball down low, especially when Azubuike was sitting on the bench. On offense, he had his guys throw it to Azubuike on the block or rely on Mykhailiuk — by nature a 3-point specialist — to slash to the basket.

Together, they helped the Jayhawks stretch their lead to double digits.

Delgado kept the Pirates in the game, though. Azubuike went to the bench with four fouls with about 9 minutes left, and coach Kevin Willard instructed his own guys to go right back to their center.

Delgado was so effective that Self gambled by putting `Doke right back in the game.

“He was the best player in the game,” Self said. “He was a man. We knew he was good. And not having Doke in there more hurt us, because physically he was able to get the best of us.”

Seton Hall closed to 63-59 with 3:22 to go, but Newman answered with a 3-pointer and a pair of foul shots, and the poised Jayhawks never allowed the Pirates to come all the way back.

“I thought it was an extremely well-played game,” Willard said. “I thought the kids left everything on the floor for both teams. I’m proud of the way my guys kept fighting back. You just have to give Kansas credit. They made a lot of big shots late.”

SELF’S RECORD

Self improved to 35-13 in the NCAA Tournament with Kansas, highlighted by a national title in 2008. That breaks a tie with his predecessor and current North Carolina coach Roy Williams for the most tourney wins in school history. Williams was 34-14 with the Jayhawks.

BIG PICTURE

Seton Hall was often rattled by a crowd that gave Kansas a hometown advantage. The game was played about 2 hours south of the Jayhawks’ campus in Lawrence, and about 90 percent of the 15,000-plus at Intrust Bank Arena cheered on the home-state school.

Kansas survived without much production from Graham, who scored 29 against Pennsylvania in the first round. He took a wicked shot to the head from a teammate late in the first half, and wound up with eight points on 1-for-7 shooting.

UP NEXT

The Jayhawks are headed to Omaha for the regional semifinals. They’ll play the winner of Sunday night’s matchup between fourth-seeded Auburn and No. 5 seed Clemson.

— Associated Press —

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Devonte Graham kept driving to the rim, using his deft crossover and blinding first step to get past Penn’s defenders, only to watch every shot he put up bounce out.

He turned to teammate Malik Newman and said, “Man, I’m just not finishing.”

Newman’s reply: “Keep being aggressive.”

Graham evidently listened.

The Big 12 player of the year finally started to get his shots to go, igniting sluggish Kansas midway through the first half and finishing with 29 points, lifting the top-seeded Jayhawks to a tough, grind-it-out 76-60 victory over the Quakers in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Lagerald Vick added 14 points for the Jayhawks (28-7), who trailed the Ivy League champs by 10 in the early stages Thursday before going on a 19-2 run late in the half to take control.

Graham, perhaps atoning for a dismal performance in last year’s tournament loss to Oregon, also had six rebounds and six assists as the Jayhawks cruised into a second-round matchup with eighth-seeded Seton Hall — which beat North Carolina State — in the loaded Midwest Region.

“We didn’t play well offensively the first half. We stunk,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “It’s hard for us to play well offensively if we don’t make shots because we don’t have a big guy to throw it into right now. The way they defended us, we needed a guard to take it on himself to get downhill.”

Graham stepped up to the task.

“He was just keeping everybody’s heads right,” Vick said. “He told us we weren’t going to lose.”

A.J. Brodeur had 14 points to lead the Quakers (24-9), but he was just 6 of 16 from the field and committed five turnovers. He was also 1 of 5 from the foul line, where Penn was 5 of 14 as a team.

“Give Kansas a ton of credit. Thought they played a terrific game,” Penn coach Steve Donahue said. “It was a great basketball game for about 35 minutes. Then they finished us off.”

The Jayhawks played most of the way without 7-footer Udoka Azubuike, who hurt a ligament in his left knee in practice last week. The sophomore center played three minutes, all in the first half, and struggled to move around while wearing a bulky brace on his leg.

Newman, the MVP of last week’s Big 12 Tournament, and Svi Mykhailiuk scored 10 points apiece for Kansas, which won its 12th consecutive NCAA opener — and avoided some ignominious history.

Trying to succeed where 132 other No. 16 seeds had failed, the Quakers raced to a 21-11 lead with about 7 minutes left in the first half. They leaned on their stingy perimeter defense to limit the hot-shooting Jayhawks’ 3-point barrage, and their pick-and-roll offense was humming.

It took the Big 12 player of the year to restore some order.

Graham picked the pocket of Caleb Wood on defense, trailed a fast-break play and was there to lay in Mykhailiuk’s missed layup, trigging what would become a 19-2 run over the next six minutes.

Graham added back-to-back baskets at the rim, then knocked down a pair of 3s later in the run. He capped his 19-point first-half barrage by drawing a foul as the Quakers were attempted to give a foul away, then hitting all three foul shots.

That gave the Big 12 champions a 33-26 lead heading into the locker room.

Penn hung around until midway through the second half, when the bigger, stronger Jayhawks began to assert control. Their veteran backcourt did most of the work, slowly drawing away.

“Credit to Graham, he realized what was going on in the game. He has a great feel for the game,” Penn’s Darnell Foreman said. “Knowing he’s a senior, he had to step up and force the tone and create and he did a great job of that.”

MORE ON DOKE

Self said Azubuike could have played “five or six minutes,” but he wasn’t needed in the second half. The hope is to get him to 80 percent in practice Friday and play more regular minutes Saturday.

BIG PICTURE

Penn was one of the top 3-point defenders in the nation, and the Jayhawks missed eight of their first nine attempts. But Kansas still went 7 of 17 for the game, and each of those 3s seemed to come whenever Penn was threatening to make a run.

Kansas only got four points from its bench, a big concern going forward. The Jayhawks have used a short lineup all season, made even shorter by Azubuike’s absence. But teams with little depth tend to wear down in the later rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT

Penn is headed for the offseason while the Jayhawks, who made their first appearance in Wichita since 1992, will face Seton Hall on Saturday.

— Associated Press —-

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas senior Devonte’ Graham has been named 2018 All-America First Team by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), the organization announced Monday.

The USBWA is among the outlets used for the official NCAA consensus All-America team and Graham is 2-for-2 on consensus All-America first teams as he was named to The Sporting News squad last week. Joining Graham on USBWA All-America First Team is Jalen Brunson (Villanova), Deandre Ayton (Arizona), Marvin Bagley III (Duke) and Trae Young (Oklahoma). There were two teams selected by the more than 900 members of the USBWA with the second team being Keita Bates-Diop (Ohio State), Trevon Bluiett (Xavier), Miles Bridges (Michigan State), Keenan Evans (Texas Tech) and Jock Landale (Saint Mary’s).

This is the second-straight year a Kansas player has earned USBWA All-America First Team honors. Jayhawk Frank Mason III earned the distinction last year and later received the Oscar Robertson Trophy recognizing the national player of the year by the USBWA.

In the past week, Graham has been named the Big 12 Player of the Year, All-Big 12 First Team, one of five finalists for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award and All-America First Team by The Sporting News, NCAA.com and the USBWA. On the court, he also earned Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team honors after averaging 14.3 points and 10.0 assists in guiding Kansas to the tourney title.

On every national player of year watch list, Graham is the only player in NCAA Division I this season averaging 17.0-plus pts, 7.0-plus assists, 1.6-plus steals and fewer than 3.0 turnovers per game. Graham is third nationally, second in the Big 12, in assists per game at 7.5. The Raleigh, North Carolina, guard leads the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7. Graham is scoring 17.3 points per game, which is third in the conference and he is sixth in free throw percentage (83.4), fourth in 3-point field goals made (2.9), seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (41.2) and fifth in steals (1.6).

On Feb. 26, Graham was named the Big 12 Player of the Week for the second time this season after guiding No. 6 Kansas (27-7, 13-5) to two victories that propelled the Jayhawks to their NCAA-record 14th consecutive, 18th Big 12 and NCAA-leading 61st regular-season conference title.

This season, Graham is logging 37.6 minutes per game this year, which ranks as the fifth highest average in a single season at KU. His 98 3-pointers made are fifth on the KU season list as last week he passed his own season high mark of 94 set in 2016-17. Graham’s 254 assists this season are second on the KU list.

Kansas enters the 2018 NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed and will face No. 16 seed Penn (24-8, 12-2 Ivy League) on Thursday, March 15, at 1 p.m. (Central) at INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.

— KU Athletics —

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Picked as a No. 1 seed for the eighth time in the last 12 years, the Kansas men’s basketball team will make its 29th-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The nation’s longest-active streak and the best all-time will start against the No. 16-seed Penn Quakers in the Midwest Region on Thursday, March 15, in Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena.

Kansas (27-7, 13-5) extended its NCAA-record run of 14-straight Big 12 titles to conclude the regular season and, on Saturday, the Jayhawks won their 11th Big 12 tournament title with an 81-70 victory over West Virginia. The unveiled bracket paired Kansas against Ivy League Tournament champion Penn (23-8, 12-2) in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

This marks the ninth-straight season that the Jayhawks have earned a No. 1 or No. 2 seed. In head coach Bill Self’s 15 seasons, KU has never been seeded lower than fourth. Kansas has been a No. 1 seed 14 times, including each of the last three seasons (1986, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018).

The Jayhawks and Quakers have played three times previously, with the Jayhawks coming away with victories in each (89-71, Feb. 8, 1997; 61-56, Nov. 11, 1998; 105-59, Jan. 4, 2000).

ABOUT KANSAS (27-7, 13-5 Big 12)
Overall, the Jayhawks are making their 47th NCAA Tournament appearance. KU is 103-45 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, including 30 Sweet 16 appearances and 14 trips to the Final Four.

The Jayhawks finished the 2017-18 regular season with a 27-7 record against the nation’s second-toughest schedule, which included six victories against ranked opponents. In conference tournament action, Kansas defeated Oklahoma State and Kansas State to advance to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship finals against West Virginia. The Jayhawks claimed their third win over the Mountaineers this season and their 11th Big 12 postseason tournament title. Against the No. 1 RPI conference and the nation’s second-toughest strength of schedule, Kansas won the Big 12 Conference regular-season race by two games.

Kansas is one of seven Big 12 Conference teams to earn an NCAA Tournament bid, marking just the seventh time in NCAA history that 70 percent of a league was selected. The seven teams are the third-most to be representing a conference in the tournament. In all, KU faced 12 NCAA Tournament teams in 2017-18.

Led by the Big 12 Coach of the Year, Kansas head coach Bill Self guided his Jayhawks through a non-conference schedule that included Kentucky, Texas A&M, Arizona State and Syracuse, all tournament teams. Big 12 Player of the Year and Sporting News First Team All-American, Devonte’ Graham is the only player in NCAA Division I averaging 17.0-plus points, 7.0-plus assists, 1.7-plus steals and fewer than 3.0 turnovers per game. As a team, KU averages 78.5 points per game and outscores opponents by a +10.6 margin.

ABOUT PENN (23-8, 12-2 Ivy)
The Quakers head to the NCAA Tournament after claiming the Ivy League Tournament title, an impressive addition to their 2018 Ivy League regular-season championship. The title, which Penn tied for with Harvard, marked the team’s 26th and first since 2007.

Four Quakers score in double figures and are led by sophomore guard Ryan Betley, who scores 14.4 ppg. Betley is the team’s top 3-point threat after averaging 2.5 threes per game and shooting 38.8 percent from beyond the arc. Sophomore forward and All-Ivy First Teamer A.J. Brodeur is the team’s top rebounder at 7.0 per game and adds 13.0 ppg. Brodeur is also the team’s most efficient scorer, making over 54 percent of his field goal attempts.

Penn is led by head coach Steve Donahue, who was named the Ivy League’s Coach of the Year. Donahue is 47-40 in his third year in Philadelphia.

Aside from a 12-2 conference slate, Penn will enter postseason play with wins in seven of its last eight outings. The Quakers’ last loss came on March 3 at Yale, 80-79.

UP NEXT
The winner of (1) Kansas vs. (16) Penn will advance to play the winner of (8) Seton Hall and (9) North Carolina State on Saturday, March 17.

— KU Athletics —