Kansas joins impressive company with offensive explosion in opening round of NCAA Tournament

The Kansas Jayhawks survived a first half scare from the Howard Bison in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon but finally managed to pull away in the second half. They ended up throttling the Bison 96-68, but they still had to deal with some nerve-wracking moments in the first half when Howard led KU 32-31 with 6:08 remaining in the opening half. Still, the Jayhawks finished with 96 points, an impressive offensive eruption.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Jayhawks’ 96 points were the most points scored by a defending national champion in their NCAA Tournament opener since the Florida Gators in 2007. That Florida team was also the last college basketball team to win back-to-back national titles.

Following the win, Kansas assistant coach Norm Roberts was relieved his team brought home the win, but he was able to joke around about how furious Bill Self was going to be with him once he got back to the hotel.

Kansas assistant coach Norm Roberts was relieved

“I don’t know [if we were] well-oiled. Because I know Bill Self is gonna kill me when I get back to the hotel. We got into a rat race game. I mean, it was going up and down. Our guys were like, get me out, I’m tired. But we made some big shots. We got stops when we needed, but we really gotta tighten up our defense,” Roberts said following the win.

He spoke with Kansas head coach Bill Self at halftime and the Jayhawks’ head man was not happy with his team’s performance on the defensive end. “He just said that we’ve gotta play a lot better defense. We’ve gotta rebound the ball and we’ve gotta screen somebody,” Roberts said.

Bill Self recently had a medical procedure done where he had two stents implemented in his heart. He said on Thursday that he doesn’t feel like he’s quite ready to coach yet, so we’ll have to see when he returns to the bench for the Jayhawks.

Since they were able to avoid the upset today against Howard, Kansas avoided becoming just the second No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament history to lose to a No. 16 seed. The only No. 1 seed to fall to a No. 16 in tournament history came in 2018, when UMBC stunned the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers, 74-54.

Kansas got some outstanding performances from Jalen Wilson and Gradey Dick in the win. Wilson stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points and seven rebounds and Dick stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists. Up next, the Jayhawks will face the winner of the Arkansas and Illinois game in the second round. If Kansas can win their Round of 32 matchup, they will advance to the Sweet 16.