FORT WORTH, Texas – Double-double outings from senior Udoka Azubuike and sophomore Devon Dotson were enough to push the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks to a 60-46 win over the TCU Horned Frogs Saturday inside Schollmaier Arena. Azubuike led KU with 20 points and the KU defense limited TCU to a season-low 46 points as Jayhawk head coach Bill Self claimed the 700th victory of his collegiate coaching career.
The win moved Kansas to 20-3 on the year and 9-1 in Big 12 play, while TCU fell to 13-10 in its season and 4-6 in the league.
MOMENT OF THE GAME
After TCU cut the KU lead to just four points, 44-40, with seven minutes to play, the Jayhawk defense came alive. KU forced four-straight TCU turnovers, starting with a Marcus Garrett steal that led to a Devon Dotson and-one basket that kicked off a 12-0 KU run to put the Horned Frogs away for good. From the seven-minute mark to the final buzzer, the KU defense allowed just two TCU field goals, helping the Jayhawks close the game on a 16-6 run.
STAT OF THE GAME
46 – The Jayhawks held TCU to just 46 points on the day, a season-low for the Horned Frogs and the fewest by a KU opponent since 2015. The number also marked the fewest points conceded by a KU team in a Big 12 road game since 2013, when KU held Texas Tech to 46 points in a 61-46 win in Lubbock. The Jayhawks have now held 13 of their 23 opponents this season to fewer than 60 points. Saturday’s game marked the first second time in 2019-20 that the KU defense has held a Big 12 opponent to 50 or fewer points (Oklahoma, 1/27/20).
NOTES
With the win, KU head coach Bill Self claimed his 700th career coaching victory, improving his overall record to 700-219 in his 27th season as a DI head coach.
Self’s 700 wins have come by way of stops at Oral Roberts (55-54), Tulsa (74-27), Illinois (78-24) and now Kansas (493-109).
Self became the 31st person to hit the 700-win plateau at the NCAA Division I level and the eighth-active head coach.
The win made Kansas 20-3 overall, giving it 20 wins for the 31st-straight season beginning in 1989-90, which would add to its active NCAA record of consecutive 20-win seasons and tie the all-time NCAA record for consecutive 20-win seasons with North Carolina which won 31 from 1971-2001.
KU held its opponent under 60 points for the 13th time this season, with a record of 12-1 in those match-ups this season and a 180-2 clip in the Self era.
Kansas has now held 14 of its 23 opponents this season to below 40% shooting, as the Horned Frogs converted just 19-of-54 of their shots from the field, or 35.2%.
KU also held its 15th opponent of the season to 30% or less from beyond the 3-point arc, as TCU made 22.7% (5-of-22) Saturday afternoon.
Senior Udoka Azubuike posted his 10th double-double of the season and 17th of his career.
Azubuike became the sixth Big 12 player in the league’s history to post at least 20 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks in a conference game. Of those six, three were Kansas players. The last time a KU player did this in any game was Nick Collison (24 pts, 16 rbs, 7 blks) vs. Oklahoma State on March 1, 2003.
Devon Dotson turned in his second-career double-double, with his previous coming in last season’s 25-point, 10-rebound effort at TCU.
Dotson’s 11 assists were a career-high and the most by a Jayhawk since Devonte’ Graham posted 13 helpers against West Virginia on March 10, 2018 in the Big 12 Championship final.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“He ran the floor, he protected the rim and the lane … him getting 14 shots will always be good for us because he’s obviously going to make a high percentage because of where he shoots it from. I thought he played terrific.”
– Bill Self on Udoka Azubuike
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will journey to West Virginia to take on the No. 13/11 Mountaineers at WVU Coliseum on Wednesday, Feb. 12. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. (CT) on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Kansas is 13-5 all-time against WVU, which includes a 60- 53 win in this season’s first meeting on Jan. 4 in Lawrence. The Jayhawks are 2-5 versus West Virginia in meetings in Morgantown, but have just one win at WVU Coliseum since 2013.
