Field Level Media
Jan 9, 2018
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Sophomore guard Malik Newman scored a season-high 27 points and added eight rebounds Tuesday as No. 12 Kansas outlasted Iowa State 83-78 in Allen Fieldhouse.
The scoring total was also a career-high for Newman, whose best previously was 25 points while playing for Mississippi State.
Newman converted a block into a fast-break layup with 2:30 remaining as part of 9-0 run by the Jayhawks to snap a 73-73 tie. Devonte Graham added two buckets during that spurt, which Svi Mykhailiuk capped with a three-point play at the :55 mark.
Mykhailiuk added 23 points for the Jayhawks, who improved to 13-3 overall and 3-1 in the Big 12. Graham, coming off a 28-point outburst in a road win at TCU, made just 4 of 14 shots and scored 11 points.
Iowa State (9-6, 0-4) led just once, 42-40, at the 18:35 mark of the second half. Still, seven ties were forged as the game was a toss-up inside the final media time out.
Freshman guard Lindell Wigginton scored 27 points to pace the Cyclones, who also forged a 44-34 edge on the glass behind 10 rebounds each from Nick Weiler-Babb and Cameron Lard. Senior guard Donovan Jackson added 20 points.
Sophomore center Udoka Azubuike did not attempt a shot until inside the 3-minute mark of the first half, but closed with the Jayhawks' last seven points of the first half as they managed a 40-37 lead at the break. Azubuike netted just nine points.
Of the first 30 attempts by Kansas, 23 came from 3-point range. That total set a Kansas record from most 3-point attempts in a half. The Jayhawks made nine, though both teams shot 44.1 percent overall on 15-for-34 first-half shooting.
Mykhailiuk made the Jayhawks' first three shots, all from behind the arc, and scored 15 first-half points. Wigginton led the Cyclones with 16 in the first half.
Although Kansas coach Bill Self expressed optimism that the NCAA would rule on the eligibility of either Billy Preston or Silvio De Sousa before the game, neither freshman forward played against Iowa State.
--Field Level Media