For the second time in three seasons, the 麻豆原创 men鈥檚 basketball team delivered a court-storming-worthy statement to open Big 12 Conference play with an upset of nationally ranked Kansas at Addition Financial Arena.
Tied at 72 with less than a minute remaining in Saturday鈥檚 game, junior forward Jordan Burks drilled a 3-pointer in front of the Knights鈥� bench that ignited 麻豆原创 on to its 81-75 victory over the No. 17 Jayhawks.
As the buzzer sounded, droves of the more the 8,000 in attendance stormed the court in celebration 鈥� a nearly identical scene to the Knights鈥� 65-60 win over then-No. 3 Kansas in the first Big 12 Conference game in school history on Jan. 10, 2024.
鈥淲e beat a good basketball team tonight 鈥� the tradition, the coaching, the players they have. Just really proud of our players for playing for 40 minutes,鈥� 麻豆原创 head coach Johnny Dawkins says. 鈥淭hey showed a lot of heart throughout the game because Kansas is [terrific]. I thought our guys did a great job of sustaining effort on the court. I thought we finished strong at the end of the game when Kansas made a really good run to tie the ball game up. Those were things we were talking about as a team prior to us going away for Christmas break; how we have to play in conference, and I thought our guys it reflected that today in how we finished the game.鈥�
麻豆原创 is now ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since 2019.
This year鈥檚 squad now improves to 12-1, marking the program鈥檚 best start under Dawkins since he took the helm in 2016. On Monday, 麻豆原创 cracked into the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2019, debuting at No. 25 in the Week 9 poll.
The ranking marks just the sixth week 麻豆原创 has appeared in the AP Top 25 since the program鈥檚 inception in 1969 and the second time under Dawkins.
Senior guard and Orlando native Riley Kugel led with 19 points, followed by guard Themus Fulks with 16 points and Burke with 14. 麻豆原创鈥檚 44 first-half points marked the most the Jayhawks have allowed this season, after previously holding then-No. 5 Duke and then-No. 17 Tennessee to 41 points apiece.
Up next, the Knights continue league play when they head to Oklahoma State for an 8 p.m. matchup on Jan. 6 before returning home Jan. 11 to face Cincinnati at 5 p.m.
The Big 12 boasts the most Top 25 teams (seven) of any conference in the country.
鈥淎t the end of this day, this needs to be behind us and we have to throw all of our preparation into Oklahoma State because that鈥檚 how this league is,鈥� Dawkins says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to have 17 more games like we had tonight. None of them are going to be different. All of these teams are well-coached, all these teams have a lot of talent so we have to prepare for it that way.鈥�
