LAWRENCE, Kan. – Junior guard Christalah Lyons career night led the Jayhawks to a 63-48 victory over UMKC on Wednesday night inside Allen Fieldhouse.

Lyons led all scorers on the night with a career-high 22 points. She knocked in 12 of her 22 points in the third quarter, scoring all but five of the Jayhawks’ points in the period. The Dallas, Texas native’s 22 points marks the sixth-straight time this season that she’s notched a double-digit scoring effort. Lyons added six assists, tying her career high and five rebounds in the Jayhawks (6-0) win over the ‘Roos (0-6).

Junior guards Brianna Osorio and Austin Richardson also posted double-digit efforts, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively. Richardson added nine rebounds, falling one shy of a double-double, and three assists. Osorio grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists on top of her double-digit scoring night.

UMKC redshirt-junior forward Kristen Moore played all 40 minutes of the game and notched a double-double, scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the process. Senior guard Aries Washington followed closely behind with 15 points and six rebounds.

The Jayhawks set the offensive pace from the get-go with Osorio knocking down a 3-pointer for the first points of the night. UMKC’s Washington answered with a layup, but KU went on a 9-0 run in response to take a 12-2 lead. Following Washington’s bucket in the first minute of the game, the Kangaroos went scoreless for the four and a half minutes of the quarter.

Senior guard Samantha Waldron ended the drought with UMKC’s first 3-point basket of the game sparking some offense by the ‘Roos. Throughout the final minutes of the first period the Jayhawks and UMKC traded off buckets, allowing the ‘Roos to come within seven points, ending the quarter down 18-11.

The opening minutes of the second quarter were all about Richardson, who knocked down six-straight points to extend the Jayhawks lead to 13. Junior guard Kylee Kopatich finished off an 8-0 KU run with a layup. UMKC had yet to make a basket through the first four minutes of the period, but a free throw by senior forward Kiana Law would start some offensive movement for the ‘Roos.

Washington wove in and out of the Kansas defense to score and got fouled for a 3-point play opportunity, completing the play to narrow the deficit, 26-15. Richardson laid in another layup to maintain KU’s double-digit lead. Senior forward Chayla Cheadle added two buckets of her own to keep the momentum going for the Jayhawks, but a 3-pointer by Washington to end the half kept the ‘Roos within 11 going into the locker room.

Lyons was a major contributor for the Jayhawks offensively in the third quarter, starting the half off with back-to-back buckets to put Kansas up, 39-24. Waldron knocked in a layup for the ‘Roos that was quickly answered with a KU 5-0 run. Osorio’s layup and a 3-point play the old-fashioned way stretched the Jayhawks lead to 18 with five minutes to play in the period.

UMKC’s senior guard Daijane Dillard completed her own 3-point play as the ‘Roos continued to fight to stay in the game. Junior guard Kylee Kopatich broke up a potential run by the ‘Roos with a pair of free throws before Moore knocked down two straight buckets. Lyons added a 3-pointer and a jumper, scoring 12 out of KU’s 17 points in the third period. The ‘Roos ended the third quarter the same way they ended the second, this time with Waldron knocking down the long-range shot. The Jayhawks held onto a 52-38 lead going into the final 10 minutes of the game.

The ‘Roos and Jayhawks battled until the sound of the final buzzer as UMKC attempted a fourth quarter comeback. UMKC tipped off the period with a Moore layup, followed by a layup for the Jayhawks by Osorio. Kansas triumphed in the ‘Roos attempt to narrow the margin, never allowing UMKC to cut the lead to single digits. The Jayhawks finished the game on a 6-1 run to win their sixth-straight game, 63-48.

UP NEXT
Kansas women’s basketball welcomes Arkansas to Allen Fieldhouse for the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 2 p.m.

— KU Athletics —

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Devonte Graham’s shot hadn’t been falling lately, so the Kansas point guard had been content to dish out nearly 10 assists per game, a number that ranked second in the nation.

Well, his shot finally fell Tuesday night.

Graham hit five 3-pointers and poured in a career-high 35 points — and still racked up five assists without a turnover — to lead the second-ranked Jayhawks to a 96-58 rout of Toledo and extend the Jayhawks’ best start in seven years.

“I’ve been putting up some shots at night,” said Graham, explaining that assistant coach Kurtis Townsend had been telling him to hold his follow-through. “Just listening to him and getting in the gym.”

Graham wasn’t the only hot hand against the Rockets.

Malik Newman added 17 points, often cruising in for easy layups. Svi Mykhailiuk hit five 3-pointers and had 15 points. And big man Udoka Azubuike dunked his way to 12 points.

The Jayhawks (6-0) finished 12 of 20 from beyond the arc and shot 59 percent from the field, though emptying their bench early kept them from hitting the 100-point mark for the third still game. They also forced 20 turnovers by a Toledo team that had committed 25 total over its last three games.

“That’s a very, very good basketball team,” Rockets coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “I’m not a Kansas basketball historian by any stretch, but in 30 years of coaching, that’s as good a team as I’ve seen.

“They are on ice skates,” he said, “and everyone else is in sneakers. They’re that fast.”

Tre’Shaun Fletcher and Nate Navigato scored 12 points apiece to lead the Rockets (3-3), who have lost three straight overall and 12 straight against ranked teams.

“I thought we did some really nice things,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “I thought our shot selection was really good. I think you could count on one hand the number of marginal shots we took.”

If you take away a 7-minute stretch of the first half, the Rockets actually hung with Kansas.

Hard to take away a 30-2 run, though.

The Jayhawks led 18-15 when Mykhailiuk knocked down a 3-pointer to get the streak going. Graham scored the next three baskets to make it a 10-0 spurt. Then, after Fletcher scored the only basket for the Rockets, Azubuike flushed back-to-back alley-oop passes for dunks to begin another 20-0 charge.

Mykhailiuk hit a pair of 3s. So did Graham. And by the time Newman drained a 3 with 3:55 left in the half, the Jayhawks had hit 8 of 9 from beyond the arc and built a 48-17 lead.

“We were doing an OK job guarding,” Fletcher said, “and it just went south really quick.”

The second half wasn’t a whole lot better for Toledo.

Graham scored the first five points, the Jayhawks scored the first 13 and their lead had swelled to 72-30 before Navigato hit a 3-pointer for the Rockets’ first points of the half.

Graham finally substituted out for the first time in the game.

“He shot it, he handled it, he did what he wanted off the ball screen and he defended well too,” Self said. “He hasn’t seen the ball go in the hole, so it was good to see that happening.”

Graham didn’t get much of a break, though, considering the Jayhawks are still using a seven-man rotation with freshman Billy Preston sidelined indefinitely over an off-the-court matter. Neither did the rest of the Kansas starters as they tuned up for a game against Syracuse on Saturday night.

“We have a big one coming up,” Graham said. “That’s where our focus is now.”

BIG PICTURE

Toledo abandoned the inside entirely, lofting up 29 shots from beyond the arc. They were just 8 of 21 everywhere else. One of those 2-point baskets in the closing minutes came from Justin Roberts, the son of Kansas assistant Norm Roberts, who got the start in front of his dad. “To be perfectly honest, that was an easy decision,” Kowalczyk said. “I made that decision in the summer.”

Kansas was scorching beyond the arc, but the Jayhawks also had a 35-23 rebounding advantage and outscored the Rockets 38-12 in the paint. That inside-outside balance is what makes Kansas so dangerous.

UP NEXT

Toledo gets an easier task with Texas Southern visiting Friday night.

Kansas heads to Florida to face the Orange in the Hoophall Miami Invitational.

— Associated Press —