Kansas forward Carlton Bragg Jr. (15) fights for position between Indiana guard Josh Newkirk (2) and Indiana forward Juwan Morgan (13) during the first half of the Armed Forces Classic at Stan Sheriff Center, on Friday, Nov. 11, 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

With a little later flight off the island and the extra weight of the Armed Forces Classic trophy, the Indiana Hoosiers filed out of Stan Sheriff Center slowly and with smiles on Friday night, following a thrilling 103-99, overtime victory over No. 3 Kansas in the season opener for both teams.

While the moment was big for the 11th-ranked Hoosier players, it seemed just a little bigger for their once-embattled head coach, Tom Crean, who moved to 1-0 in head-coaching match-ups against KU coach Bill Self and could not have been more happy about it following the victory.

“They’ve got a great team,” Crean said after his team’s grind-it-out victory. “I don’t know what year (Self’s) eligible for the Hall of Fame, but he’s a shoo-in of a unanimous candidate as there is. So when you’re coaching him and that staff and that team, you’ve gotta have all your ducks in a row, and, our guys, it was one of those games tonight where everybody just kept coming at each other.”

Although these early-season, showcase events have become some of the most anticipated and hyped match-ups on the college basketball schedule in recent years, they often take place well before the powerhouse programs playing in them have formed the best version of the teams that they will become. But that hardly mattered to Crean, who said he was incredibly proud of his players and wildly impressed by Self’s crew.

“I said to one of my guys before the game in the locker room, ‘This feels like March,’ and it lived up to it,” Crean said. “That was two resilient, tough-minded basketball teams playing on November 11 and I’m glad we were one of them. We were fortunate to win it, but I wouldn’t feel any worse about my team if we had lost it. Because everybody gave what they had.”

By everybody, Crean meant each coach and player on both sides. Seven players fouled out, four others were pushed to the brink of joining them and 11 different Jayhawks and Hoosiers played 26 minutes or more in the 45-minute dogfight.

“They’re gonna get a lot better,” Crean said of Kansas. “I think we’ll get a lot better and, we’ll be able to really assess this and learn what we’ve gotta get better at right now, just like they will.

“This is one of the best things we’ve ever done, and I’d say that even if we wouldn’t have won. I mean, it (was) Veteran’s Day and you’re in Honolulu and it’s the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor and you’re surrounded by greatness. We played a great team tonight.”

Decent debut

After two warm-ups at Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas freshman Josh Jackson played his first official game as a Jayhawk on Friday night to a luke-warm review from his head coach.

“I thought he was OK,” Self said of Jackson, who started and scored 9 points and grabbed 6 boards on 3-of-11 shooting in 27 minutes. “Foul problems, shot selection wasn’t any good. But our entire team’s shot selection there for about 10 minutes in the second half was awful. Awful. All we did was just clank up jumpers with nobody in rebounding position, playing small. That wasn’t good at all.”

Cramp concerns

For the third time in three outings with this 2016-17 Kansas team, junior guard Devonte’ Graham suffered from a series of leg cramps. Signs of the issue first showed up with about 10 minutes remaining in regulation but Graham did not leave the game until fouling out with 13 seconds to play in the second half.

Although Graham did not have his best shooting night — 3-of-11 overall, including 2-of-6 from three-point range — the cramping issue did not appear to affect Graham on offense. Defense may have been a different story.

“I’ll bet you that was why (James) Blackmon got loose a few times, late clock, because Devonte’ wasn’t quite himself with his legs,” Self said of the IU guard who scored 26 points in 39 minutes on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point land. “I probably should’ve switched and put Svi (Mykhailiuk) or Lagerald (Vick) on him (instead of Graham).”

Duke rolling

In what was surely a much easier tune-up for Tuesday’s Champions Classic showdown with Kansas in New York City than the one the Jayhawks had in Hawaii, top-ranked Duke topped Marist, 94-59, in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame campus opener played at Duke Friday night.

Five Duke players scored in double figures in the opener, including junior national player of the year candidate Grayson Allen, who scored 16 points in 22 minutes.

The Blue Devils followed up Friday night’s victory with another home game, against Grand Canyon in the same event, and rolled to a 2-0 start with a 96-61 victory. Allen scored 25 in Game 2, which also featured five Blue Devils scoring in double figures.