Men’s Basketball Roundup | No. 4 Kansas wins by 23
At No. 4 Kansas 85, Missouri-Kansas City 62
Mario Chalmers scored 23 points - and had two of his team’s four missed dunks - and the rather ragged Jayhawks (2-0) beat the Kangaroos (0-1).
Kansas spent much of the game missing free throws and blowing assignments and led 62-52 when Jeremiah Hartsock of Missouri-Kansas City made a short jumper midway through the second half.
“I thought our defense was better than what it was the other night, but it still has a lot of room to get better,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “It was good for us to sweat and to play under some duress. We did poorly at executing, blocking out and free-throw shooting at times. Still, we win by 23. But we have to get better.”
At No. 22 Pittsburgh 69, Saint Louis 58
Levance Fields and freshman DeJuan Blair each scored 16 points to help the Panthers (3-0) hand Rick Majerus his first loss as coach of the Billikens (2-1).
Blair also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. The Panthers completed a sweep of three games at the Hispanic College Fund Basketball Challenge.
Sam Young, the tournament’s most valuable player, added 12 points for Pittsburgh, which hosted the four-team, round-robin exempt tournament.
The Panthers, smaller and quicker this season while playing without 7-footer Aaron Gray, an NBA draft pick of the Chicago Bulls, couldn’t break free from Saint Louis in the first half and led 27-21 at halftime.
But Pittsburgh wore down the Billikens in the second half before holding on to start a season 3-0 for the 10th consecutive time.
At No. 25 Kansas St. 76, Pittsburg St. 66
Michael Beasley scored 30 points, most of them during a critical second-half run, and the Wildcats (2-0) avoided losing to the Division II Gorillas.
Freshman forward Beasley also had 14 rebounds, posting his second double-double in as many games. He had 32 points and a Big 12 Conference-record 24 rebounds in a victory over Sacramento State on Friday night.
Notes
• Jeff Jordan, a walk-on at Illinois who is the son of NBA legend Michael Jordan, was 0 for 1 in three minutes as the Illini beat Northeastern 63-55.
• Central Florida beat visiting Nevada 63-60. Marcelus Kemp, a Garfield High School graduate, led Nevada with 19 points.