Written by Adrian Beecher
Salt Lake City, UT – In game two of action from Vivint Smart Home Arena, 4th seeded Kansas dismantled 13th seeded Northeastern in a 2nd half that saw the Jayhawks put up 50. Dedric Lawson led the way for the Jayhawks in their 87-53 win over the Huskies.
Here is how it all went down in round one action from the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Northeastern won the tip, but it was the Jayhawks getting the first basket of the night as Dedric lawson drained a triple. This was answered at the other end of the floor with a triple from Jordan Roland.
The two teams stayed close early on, with five lead changes in the first 5:10 of the game, with both teams knotted up at 9. The Huskies were especially feeling it from downtown, as their first three baskets of the game came from long range.
Then Kansas went on the attack. With 13:58 left in the 1st half, the Jayhawks took their 4th lead of the game on a Marcus Garrett layup. This would start a 9-2 run over the next 2:24 that would out Kansas up 18-11.
Striking back was the Huskies with an 8-2 run of their own to trim it to just a one point game with 7:59 left in the half. Then, yet again Kansas went for the left hook, answering with a 11-0 run, to push their lead to 12 with 4:09 left in the half.
The Huskies would try to trim into the lead, however, at the end of the first half, Kansas was in full control, leading 37-25.
In the second half, Northeastern got things going first with a jumper from Roland. Then a free throw and another bucket for the Huskies led Bill Self to call a timeout for Kansas as their lead was trimmed to 7 with 17
Out of the timeout, Quentin Grimes drained a triple to end the run and get the Jayhawks rolling. And roll they did, in the form of an 8-0 run to take a 45-30 lead over the Huskies with 15:25 left to play.
After the under 16-minute media timeout, the shellacking continued as Kansas pushed their lead to 21 with an uncontested layup from K.J. Lawson with 12:26 to play.
Northeastern would trim the deficit to 19 with 10:17 left to play. Then came the knockout blow from the Jayhawks. It came in the form of a 14-0 run from Kansas to take a 33 point lead over the Huskies with 6:29 left to play.
It was clear the Northeastern was no match for Kansas, as they would only trim the deficit to as low as 26 points in the final six minutes. But it was all over, as Kansas advances to play against 5th seeded Auburn on Saturday for a spot in the sweet sixteen.
