Advertisement

No. 13 Kansas starts four true freshmen in win over Oklahoma State

Gary Mondello
Editorial Manager
Freshman Devon Dotson had a big first half in Kansas' victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday. (AP)
Freshman Devon Dotson had a big first half in Kansas’ victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday. (AP)

No. 13 Kansas’ streak of consecutive Big 12 basketball titles is in serious jeopardy, but its future looks bright.

The Jayhawks started four true freshmen for just the second time in Bill Self’s 16 seasons as head coach and pulled away from Big 12 bottom-feeder Oklahoma State in the second half for an 84-72 victory.

The last time Kansas started four true freshmen was in 2013 (Frank Mason, Joel Embiid, Andrew Wiggins and Wayne Selden Jr.) and they are currently all on NBA rosters.

The only non-freshman to start was Big 12 scoring leader Dedric Lawson, and he led the way for Kansas with 25 points and seven rebounds, but the first-year players were very impressive.

Leading the young guns was Ochai Agbaji, who scored 23 points and hit a career-high five three pointers. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound guard was going to redshirt this season, but Self pulled Agbaji’s redshirt after the season-ending injury to Udoka Azubuike last month.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s incredible to me,” Self said. “It goes to show you what a bad decision I made initially in misreading the situation. He’s beyond his years.”

Freshman Devon Dotson also plays beyond his years. He scored 10 of his 18 points in the first half, which ended in a 36-36 tie.

The Jayhawks scored the first six points of the second half, then used a 12-0 run, capped by an Agbaji 3, to take a 65-51 lead midway through the second half. Oklahoma State, which was trying to become the first Big 12 school to win back-to-back games in Allen Fieldhouse since Iowa State in 2000-2001, did not threaten again.

As for the other two freshmen to start. Quentin Grimes — who was Kansas’ top recruit in 2018 but isn’t necessarily a one-and-done — finished with six points. David McCormack, who made his first start of the season, did not score.

Can Kansas win Big 12 again?

The odds don’t favor the Jayhawks winning a 15th straight conference championship.

Kansas entered Saturday tied for fourth in the Big 12, two games behind Kansas State and a game behind Iowa State and Baylor in the loss column. Also, the Jayhawks are playing without senior star Lagerald Vick, who took a leave of absence earlier this week to attend to “personal matters” back in Memphis. He is reportedly expected to be back in a few weeks.

That may be too late for the Jayhawks. Then again, maybe not. Kansas should be favored in six of its next seven games, while Kansas State faces a much tougher road.

So don’t count the Jayhawks out just yet.

More from Yahoo Sports:

• Things to know about the new football league
• Super Bowl MVP shaves his beard on ‘Ellen’ for charity
• NBA star’s pizza commercial useless after trade
• Vonn suffers freak injury before training run