Kansas Stuffs Oklahoma State in Lawrence, Bryce Thompson Injured Early
LAWRENCE, Kansas – The second time was far from being the charm as Oklahoma State caught Kansas without their leading scorer in All-America candidate Kevin McCullar Jr. Oklahoma State stayed with the Jayhawks early as freshman Brandon Garrison scored the first seven points for the Pokes and at one point it was Kansas 10 and Garrison 7, but the Jayhawks started hitting threes and converting consistently on their trips down the floor.
Hunter Dickinson and K.J. Adams Jr. each scored 16 points and they were the leaders for KU on a lboxscore as No. 8 Kansas beat Oklahoma State for the second time this season 83-54. The first meeing just about two weeks ago was 90-66 in Stillwater.
All five of the Kansas starters scored in double figures.
Oklahoma State was hurt by the lose of senior guard Bryce Thompson. The former Kansas player was driving to the basket when he was fouled by KU’s Dickinson as he went to the bucket. Thompson came crashing down on the floor and landed awkwardly on his right arm and elbow.
According to John Holcomb of the Cowboys Radio Network X-rays on Thompson were negative, but he did come out in the second half with the arm in a sling. The report was they were still waiting on other tests.
Kansas (17-4, 5-3 Big 12) got 12 points from Dajuan Harris Jr., 11 from Johnny Furphy, and 10 from Elmarko Jackson, who was the fill in for McCuller in the starting line-up. Dickinson had a double-double with 11 rebounds, and Harris had seven assists.
Oklahoma State (9-12, 1-7) was led by John-Michael Wright with 16 points. Brandon Garrison added 11 points after scoring that first seven points of the game.
Kansas just kept scoring and the Cowboys kept missing as Oklahoma Stte had one of their worst shooting nights of the season. When Dickinson hit a foul-line jumper to cap a 12-0 run, the Jayhawks led 33-15. They led by as many as 21 points in the first half before taking a 44-26 lead into the locker room.
The second half the margin never got below that of the 18-point halftime lead.
The Jayhawks were scorching from the field. They shot 64.3% (18 of 28) in the first half, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range.
Oklahoma State will come home and prepare for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday hosting Kansas State, who lost by 20 points at home to Oklahoma on Tuesday night.