Jonas Aidoo nearly quadrupled his scoring average Thursday night with a game-high 22 points and 10th-seeded Arkansas canned eight straight foul shots in the final minute to clinch a 79-72 win over seventh-seeded Kansas in a first-round West Region game of the NCAA Tournament in Providence, R.I.
Johnell Davis added 18 points, including two free throws with 10.4 seconds left for a 77-72 advantage. D.J. Wagner scored 14 points and dished out six assists, while Trevor Brazile chipped in an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double.
“We learned some stuff today, didn’t we, boys?” Arkansas coach John Calipari said. “There’s stuff going forward that’s good for us. We got away from them at the very end.”
While the Razorbacks (21-13) advance to a second-round matchup on Saturday against second-seeded St. John’s, the Jayhawks (21-13) went one-and-done after starting the season as the No. 1 team in the country.
“We got off to terrible starts to start the game and the second half,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. “Their length bothered us all night long.”
Zeke Mayo scored 18 points to lead Kansas, while AJ Storr came off the bench to add 15. KJ Adams hit for 13 points and Hunter Dickinson contributed 11 points, although he was held to 4 of 13 shooting.
The Jayhawks owned a 67-64 edge with 4:55 left after Adams canned a jumper, but they committed six turnovers in a 3 1/2-minute span. Arkansas took the lead for good on two foul shots by Aidoo with 2:14 remaining and salted the game away at the line.
The game matched two storied programs who finished with lower seeds than some might have predicted for them in October, given the star power on the floor and the sidelines. And the first half, in stark contrast to the second half rock fight, was free-flowing and high-scoring.
Aidoo couldn’t be stopped by any defensive scheme Kansas tried, going 8 of 13 from the field on his way to 16 points. Meanwhile, Mayo had a perfect half, ringing up 13 points on just four shot attempts. He made all three of his 3-pointers and canned both foul shots.
“I knew it was going to be a big matchup from the jump … had to help the team out for sure,” Aidoo said on facing Dickinson.
Aidoo capped his big half with a jump hook in the lane. Wagner hit a floater with 48 seconds left that helped Arkansas take a 47-44 edge to the locker room.
–Field Level Media
