Kansas Heads Into Holidays With 68-54 Win Over Harvard

It wasn't always pretty, but the Jayhawks get the job done against a scrappy Crimson team as Jalen Wilson scores his 1,000th career point.

Kansas fans tuning into the showdown with Harvard in Allen Fieldhouse Thursday night hoping to see a festive holiday blowout soon realized this would be more Die Hard than It’s a Wonderful Life.

Still, while not much was going right, the Jayhawks were still able to hold on for a 68-54 win over the Crimson in the final game before a quick Christmas break.

Kansas and Harvard traded baskets to start the game, with the Crimson getting layups and Kansas having to scrap a bit harder to scrounge up points. To make life tougher on the Jayhawks, Dajuan Harris picked up two fouls in the first eight minutes of the game and spent a decent chunk of the first half on the bench.

Harvard is known as one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country, but on this night, KU joined the Crimson. Harvard hit two threes before Kanas connected on its first, as the Jayhawks started 0-9 from behind the arc. Instead, with Harvard up 20-16, Kansas had to claw back from the paint. A Kevin McCullar put-back tied it at 20, and then a KJ Adams layup gave Kansas the lead.

Then the 3-point drought ended at the fiery hands of Gradey Dick. The Jayhawks would go on a 13-0 run with MJ Rice getting four points to make it 29-20 Kansas. And because not much of this game made sense, the final 10 seconds of the half featured back-to-back threes by the Crimson and then Dick as the buzzer sounded.

Kansas got the first bucket of the second half but then Harvard immediately cut the lead to three at 34-31. An Adams put-back and McCullar jumper stretched KU’s lead to nine, but every time the Jayhawks tried to get breathing room, Harvard responded.

A Crimson three and then back-side layup after a Wilson airball cut the Kansas lead to four. Harris poked the ball away and into the hands of Dick for a three to extend the lead to seven and Harvard had an answer.

Then it became Wilson’s turn to take over. He had back-to-back buckets and then a huge block that led to a Bobby Pettiford layup, giving Kansas a 57-46. Wilson then made a mistake and fouled Harvard leading scorer Chris Ledlum (17 points), who completed a circus layup. But to make up for it, Wilson tipped in a miss for his 1,000th career point and an eight-point KU lead. He and McCullar would each score again before Adams put the exclamation point on the game with a two-handed dunk in the final seconds.

Wilson ended the game with a game-high 21 points on 10-17 shooting (but just 1-6 from 3) and six rebounds. McCullar (14 points, 11 rebounds), Dick (11 points, seven rebounds), and Adams (10 points) ended in double figures, but it was Adams’ overall stat line that caught eyes. Adams had seven rebounds, four steals, two blocks, and an assist to go with his 10 points.

Harvard may have shot an unseasonably warm 31.8% from 3 (7-22), it was also ice cold from the free-throw line, hitting just five of 14 from the charity stripe. Kansas was 8-8 from the line but just 4-20 from 3 and 28-60 from the field.

Kansas will now have a break for Christmas before kicking off Big 12 play by hosting Oklahoma State on New Year’s Eve. 

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