LAS VEGAS (AP) — Dajuan Harris Jr. scored 14 points and dished out a season-high nine assists as top-ranked Kansas beat No. 11 Duke 75-72 in the Vegas Showdown on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Zeke Mayo added 12 points for Kansas (6-0), and Hunter Dickinson and AJ Storr each scored 11.
“Our ball screen defense was on point,” said head coach Bill Self. “We flew around and we guarded well. The most impressive thing that we did was rebound the ball. We did a lot of good things and I am really happy with our guys. What KJ (Adams) did defensively on Cooper (Flagg) was good. We did a lot of good things but the biggest thing we did was find a way to win.”
Tyrese Proctor led Duke (4-2) with 15 points, Cooper Flagg scored 13, Kon Knueppel had 11 and Sion James finished with 10.
Mayo put Kansas ahead for good when he made a jumper with 1:57 left for a 73-71 lead. Flagg hit a free throw for Duke and Rylan Griffen answered with two foul shots with 2 seconds left.
Kansas has won four of the past five meetings with the Blue Devils and six of eight. Nine of the past 10 meetings have been decided by single digits.
Takeaways
Kansas: Overcoming the loss of Dickinson could serve the Jayhawks well later in the season.
Duke: Flagg had six points when Dickinson went out, but then on four trips to the lane had two dunks, a layup and a free throw.
Key moment
Knueppel had a 3-point try rim out at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.
Key stat
Duke shot 50% from the field and 42.3% from 3-point range. Kansas shot 49.1% overall and 47.1% from 3.
Up next
Kansas hosts Furman on Saturday. Duke is home against Seattle on Friday.
