photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Dajuan Harris Jr. (3) lays out to knock the ball loose from UNC Wilmington guard Donovan Newby (1) during the first half on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 at Allen Fieldhouse.

UNC Wilmington trailed for the entire first half on Tuesday night at Allen Fieldhouse, but it certainly didn’t feel that way.

The high-flying Seahawks out of the Coastal Athletic Association, who entered the night averaging 108 points through three games, proved quite capable of keeping up with top-ranked Kansas’ offensive pace, aided by a string of tough offensive rebounds and errant long-range shooting by the Jayhawks.

That all changed when KU emerged from halftime on a 16-4 run, pulling away from its opportunistic foes — who didn’t make a field goal for the first seven minutes of the second half — on the way to an 84-66 victory.

“Other than defensive rebounding, that’s the best we’ve played defensively,” head coach Bill Self said. “Our ball-screen defense was on point. We just didn’t rebound the ball late in the first half, and they get to the free-throw line.”

A host of Jayhawks chipped in to help reinvigorate the team in the final 20 minutes, but it started with point guard Dajuan Harris Jr., who had 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting to go with six assists and a pair of steals.

“They basically forced me to shoot the ball, so I just got a lot of shots,” Harris said. “I missed a lot, but I did a lot of scoring because you know, usually, my scorers do a lot of scoring, and I just make the easy pass or something, but I just stepped up. I had to lead the scoring.”

And on the other side of the ball, Self said, “Juan’s turned it up. He’s turned it up. He looks much more active defensively than he was last year.”

Fellow guard David Coit put up another strong showing against lesser opposition with 13 points of his own.

“I think he can play at this level and be consistently good,” Self said. “With him, we’ll judge him a lot of times on if he makes shots or not, and tonight he was 3-for-4 and did a good job, but I could see him getting these same looks against conference opponents, but we can’t expect him to shoot 75% every game.”

Freshman center Flory Bidunga left with an ankle injury late in the first half and did not emerge from the locker room until midway through the second period, though Self said he could return to practice soon and might have been able to play under different circumstances. KJ Adams saw some brief minutes at center, and Hunter Dickinson posted a 15-point, 15-rebound double-double of the sort he makes look fairly routine.

Self became the third active coach to reach 800 career wins.

“I’m glad my parents had me a little bit later so that I can be able to play for him at 800,” Dickinson said.

Khamari McGriff (18 points, seven rebounds) and Noah Ross (10 points, nine rebounds) acquitted themselves quite well against the KU defense, keeping the Seahawks in it early and then tightening the margin late.

The Jayhawks placed a clear emphasis on playing at a faster pace than UNCW from the opening whistle and were rewarded with a slew of points in transition. The Seahawks hung tough, getting to the line early and often as they are wont to do, but Harlan Obioha missed a pair of free throws that could have tied the game at 9-9 and KU scored the next four points.

KU suffered from its 1-for-9 start from beyond the three-point line, and UNCW soon cut its deficit to 19-15 when Donovan Newby banked in a second-chance 3 to make the Seahawks 3-for-6.

Harris and Coit eventually made one 3-pointer apiece to help the Jayhawks stave off a bit of an offensive flurry from UNCW, and Coit served as KU’s leading scorer off the bench in the early stages of the game.

The teams traded baskets for much of the latter portion of the first half, and KU couldn’t seem to stretch its advantage beyond six points despite highlight-reel contested buckets inside by Zeke Mayo and Shakeel Moore. Then, following a turnover by Rylan Griffen, the Seahawks cut it to four points on a close-range fadeaway by Ross with 5:22 to go, and to two on a similar shot with just under four minutes remaining.

AJ Storr provided the response KU needed with a 3-pointer to make it 37-32 in the Jayhawks’ favor. But thanks in large part to conceding a slew of second-chance points — KU gave up nine offensive rebounds in the first half to match its previous single-game high — the Jayhawks went into the break up just 43-38. McGriff’s 14 points for the Seahawks were double the marks of the top KU players, Harris and Dickinson.

“Rebounding was a big thing that (Self) wanted to key on at halftime and I think guys really took that challenge,” Dickinson said.

The Jayhawks came out of the break with renewed energy, scoring six quick points highlighted by an intercepted pass from Josh Corbin that Griffen took all the way for a transition layup, and forced a timeout by UNCW coach Takayo Siddle. Despite the stoppage and some momentum-killing foul calls, that early surge developed into the decisive 16-4 run, aided by an impressive coast-to-coast layup by Harris through a foul.

The Seahawks eventually managed to find their way back into the game with a contested shot in the post by McGriff and a three-point play by Ross that made it 59-47.

Harris was again the reason the Jayhawks recovered, as he salvaged a rough possession with a high-arcing shot in the final moments of the shot clock and put KU back up 14.

Rakease Passmore scored his first basket of the game soon afterward, as did Zach Clemence, both as part of a stretch that boosted the Jayhawks’ lead to as many as 20 points — only for UNCW to cut it back to 12 thanks to 3-pointers by Greedy Williams and then Corbin.

The Jayhawks will travel to face No. 12 Duke, a young but highly talented team led by top freshman Cooper Flagg, in Las Vegas next Tuesday night.

“These last two games were super important because these were get-better games,” Harris said. “Coach says it all the time, and Duke’s going to be a tough matchup, so we got to come in tomorrow or the next day and watch some film and just get better as a team.”

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