LAWRENCE, Kan. – Behind 25 points from sophomore guard Devon Dotson the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks held off an upset bid from Kansas State, 62-58, Saturday afternoon in the 293rd Dillons Sunflower Showdown. Kansas trailed by as much as four points in the second half, but held the Wildcats to just two field goals over the final eight minutes to hold on for its 14th-consecutive win.
The victory, which marked the 2,300th in the program’s history, moved the Jayhawks to 26-3 and 15-1 in Big 12 play. Kansas State fell to 9-20 on the year and 2-14 in the league.
MOMENT OF THE GAME
Holding just a two-point advantage with under five minutes to play, two Jayhawk underclassmen made plays on back-to-back KU possessions to help their team finally put some distance between itself and its in-state rival. After freshman Christian Braun connected on his second 3-pointer of the day, Dotson got the rim and laid in an and-one bucket and connecting on the free throw to give the Jayhawks a 56-48 lead with just over four minutes to play in regulation. The Jayhawks salted away the win from there to seal their ninth-straight road victory.
STAT OF THE GAME
25 – For the ninth time this season and the 11th of his career, Dotson eclipsed the 20-point mark, finishing his day with 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting and a perfect 8-for-8 mark from the free throw line. The sophomore guard was the only Jayhawk to score in double-figures on the day and tallied 10 points during a nine-minute stretch in the second half that helped KU turn a four-point deficit into an eight-point advantage as the game entered its late stages.
NOTES
- Since Feb. 12, 1994, Kansas has now won 60 of the last 66 meetings with K-State.
The win completed a 9-0 February for the Jayhawks, marking the second unblemished February under Bill Self and KU’s fourth in the Big 12 era. - The victory also improved Kansas’ record on Leap Day (Feb. 29) to 5-2 all-time, 3-0 under Self.
- Kansas is now 2,300-862 all-time, and the second NCAA DI team to hit the 2,300 wins mark.
- For the first time this season, the Jayhawks had only one player score in double-figures with Devon Dotson’s 25. The last time KU had only one double-digit scorer was at Texas Tech last season (Feb. 23, 2019).
- Kansas’ 18 made shots from the floor were the fewest by a KU team since Kansas made just 16 against Oklahoma State on Jan. 13, 2015. KU’s 43 attempts also marked the fewest by a Jayhawk team since KU tallied 41 attempts against West Virginia on Feb. 9, 2016.
- KU’s 27 points in the second half marked the fewest in the final 20:00 of play for the Jayhawks this season.
Kansas held its opponent under 60 points for the 16th time this season, KU is 15-1 in those games with a 183-2 record in the Self era. - In its two victories over Kansas State this season, the KU bench combined to outscore KSU 52-12.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
“Dot gets 25 (points) on his own part (today) … I thought that was huge, what he did, because we really didn’t have much going on at all except for him.”
– Bill Self on Devon Dotson
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will host the TCU Horned Frogs for Senior Night on Wednesday, March 4. Tipoff from Lawrence is slated for 7 p.m., on Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The Jayhawks have won an incredible 36-consecutive regular-season home finales, a streak that dates back to 1983-84.
KU leads the all-time series with TCU 19-2, which includes a 60-46 victory in Fort Worth in this season’s first meeting. The Jayhawks are 8-0 against TCU in Lawrence and 7-0 in Allen Fieldhouse.
