KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Sophomore forward David McCormack poured in a career-high 28 points to lead No. 2/3 Kansas to a convincing 98-57 win over the Kansas City Roos Saturday night inside Sprint Center. Devon Dotson and Marcus Garrett joined McCormack scoring in double-figure as the Jayhawks shot 58 percent from the field and forced the Roos into 22 turnovers.

The victory marked the Jayhawks’ ninth-straight and improved KU to 9-1 on the year. Kansas City fell to 5-7 in its 2019-20 campaign.

It wasn’t the fastest of starts for the Jayhawks, who managed only four field goals over the first eight minutes of action, allowing Kansas City to jump out to a 13-10 lead. KC’s Jordan Giles connected on a jumper at the 11:52 mark to give his squad the 3-point advantage, however, that would be the final highlight for the Roos on the night.

Kansas sophomore guard Tristan Enaruna slashed to the rim less than 20 seconds later to kickstart a 33-11 KU run over the remainder of the first half. McCormack scored 14 of the Jayhawks’ final 20 points to close that half as KU headed to the locker room with a 43-24 advantage.

It was more of the same after play resumed in the second stanza. Dotson connected on his first and only 3-pointer of the night 12 seconds after the restart to push the KU advantage to 22 points. The bucket was the first of a 24-9 run that saw the Jayhawks swell their lead to 39 points, 72-33, before the under-12 minute media timeout. KU’s defense also locked down the Roo shooters, keeping KC to only one field goal during a six-minute stretch during the Jayhawk run.

McCormack was again the catalyst during KU’s quick start to the second half. The sophomore shot in 10 points in the first five minutes of the half to pull his total tally to 28 points, a new career high, on an efficient 11-of-14 from the field. McCormack did all of this in under 17 minutes of action.

With the lead up to 40 points midway through the half, Bill Self emptied his bench with 11 of the 12 Jayhawks to enter the game able to enter the scoring column. KU hit 62.9 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes of action to finish the game with a 57.6 clip. It marked the fourth-straight game the Jayhawks were above 50 percent from the field and the seventh game this season.

Dotson and Garrett were the other two Jayhawks to score in double-figures, with Dotson netting 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and Garrett adding 13 points, eight of which came in the first half.

The KU defense closed out the night forcing 22 Kansas City turnovers, which the Jayhawks converted into 30 points. Kansas also limited the Roos to 42.3 percent shooting from the field, the ninth time in its first 10 outings of the season the Jayhawks have held their opponent to under 45 percent from the field.

UP NEXT

The Jayhawks will take part in the Big EAST-Big 12 Challenge when they journey to No. 20 Villanova on Saturday, Dec. 21. Tipoff from Wells Fargo Arena set for 11 a.m. (Central), on FOX.

Kansas and Villanova will meet for the fifth time since 2013 and the third time in the last 22 months. KU defeated the Wildcats last season in Lawrence, 74-71, while Villanova claimed the previous match-up in the 2018 Final Four, en route to its NCAA Championship. The all-time series is tied at 4-4.