Kansas not afraid to earn ugly wins
Winning ugly is nothing that Kansas coach Bill Self will complain about.
In fact, there’s times he finds it downright satisfying.
Like Thursday, for instance, when Andrew Wiggins was slowed by the flu, when the second-ranked Jayhawks used reserves more than starters in the second half and when the hottest scorer on the court happened to be wearing a Wake Forest uniform. No problem Self was all smiles afterward, because above all else, a win always beats the alternative.
Wiggins scored 12 of his 17 points in the final 5:53, and Kansas held off previously unbeaten Wake Forest 87-78 in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis. A pair of reserves, Frank Mason and Joel Embiid, combined for 23 more points for the Jayhawks (5-0), who will face Villanova in the semifinals on Friday night.
”I’ve always taken great pride in winning ugly,” Self said. “I think it’s good to win ugly. I’d rather win pretty, but there’s nothing wrong with winning ugly. The thing about it that’s frustrating to me, and I think these guys will probably agree, we’ve always been a team that won ugly by not allowing the other team to score.”
That wasn’t the case Thursday, at least not in the final 20 minutes. Well, the last 20:01, really.
Kansas was up by 16 when Codi Miller-McIntyre got a layup to fall for Wake Forest just before the first half ended.
Before that shot, Miller-McIntyre had only four points. He finished with a career-best 26, and has scored at least 20 in five of Wake Forest’s six games this season.
Marquette 86, Cal State Fullerton 66: Jamil Wilson scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and No. 25 Marquette routed tournament host Cal State Fullerton 86-66 in the first round of the Wooden Legacy.
Davante Gardner and Jajuan Johnson each had 18 points off the bench for the Golden Eagles, who quickly squashed any hope the Titans had of pulling an upset. Marquette grabbed a double-digit lead just 10 minutes into the game and cruised from there.
Butler 76, Washington State 69: Kellen Dunham scored 32 points and Khyle Marshall added 30 as Butler beat Washington State 76-69 in the first round of the Old Spice Classic.
Dunham set a tournament record for points in a game.
George Washington 71, Miami 63: Joe McDonald hit a game-tying layup with three seconds remaining to help George Washington avoid a monumental collapse, and the Colonials beat Miami 71-63 in overtime in the opening game of the Wooden Legacy.
Villanova 93, Southern California 79: James Bell scored 17 points, Darrun Hilliard added 16 and Villanova never trailed on the way to beating Southern California 93-79 in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Oklahoma State 97, Purdue 87: Marcus Smart scored 30 points, and No. 5 Oklahoma State nearly blew a big lead before beating Purdue 97-87 in the opening round of the Old Spice Classic.
Markel Brown added 25 points for the Cowboys (6-0), who came in averaging 100.2 points and had defeated their first five opponents by an average of 37.8.