Martin's First Half, Agbaji's Second, Push Jayhawks into the Sweet 16

A couple big halves from two different players were just enough to push the Kansas Jayhawks past the Creighton Bluejays and into the Sweet 16 with a 79-72 victory.

It's often said that the three-point shot is the great equalizer in the spot of basketball. If you needed proof, the Kansas win over Creighton in the second round of the NCAA tournament had plenty of it for you.

Contents

1. Game Flow
2. Key Players
3. Up Next

The Jayhawks started off with a good but uneven performance, but hot shooting from beyond the arc for the Bluejays let them hang around in this game much longer than expected. But the Jayhawks did enough down the stretch to pull out a 79-72 to advance to the Sweet 16.

Game Flow

The Jayhawks were challenged from the beginning, as Creighton won the tip and immediately scored on a long 3-point shot by Ryan Hawkins. That was a sign of things to come.

Over the course of the first half, the Jayhawks out-rebounded the Bluejays 25-15, had 8 second chance points to Creighton's 5, led in points in the paint 18-6 and was a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line. They also shot 41.2% while Creighton shot 37.5%. Remy Martin was by far the most efficient scorer, netting 16 points on 9 shots. After all that, they only led by 1.

What was the difference? Creighton shot 8-15 from beyond the arc, while Kansas was only 3-9. And Martin was the ONLY playing who was efficient on offense.

The game turned in the second half. Creighton cooled off considerably from beyond the arc, making on 3 of 14 shots from that distance. But Martin struggled to score, and while David McCormack come out of the gate strong, he faded quickly. Stepping up in the half was Ochai Agbaji, as he led the rest of the team with 13 of his 15 points in the second period. After getting up by nine with just over eight minutes remaining, Creighton methodically

Key Players

Remy Martin

© Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Stat Line: 20 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block

Martin was absolutely electric in the first half of this game, almost single-handedly keeping the Jayhawks in the game with the hot-shooting Creighton Bluejays. His energy not only opened up shots for himself, it helped to open up holes for everyone else on the offense.

Ochai Agbaji

© Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Stat Line: 15 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 steals

Agbaji struggled in the first half, going 0-4 from the field and only scoring 2 points on free throws. But he came alive in the second half, sparking one run to push the lead up to nine, which Creighton nearly erased before the end of the game. With Kansas only up one with just over two minutes to go, he again came through with a huge steal and drive for a layup to push the game out of reach.

Jalen Wilson

© Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Stat Line: 14 points, 14 rebounds, 1 block

This spot could have gone to someone like Christian Braun, but I went with Wilson because of just how important his rebounding was on a night when David McCormack was extremely ineffective in 25 minutes. Wilson played some small ball 5 in this one, which helped stem the tide when Creighton was trying to push for the lead down the stretch. 

Up Next

The Jayhawks travel to Chicago, IL for the Sweet 16. Their opponent will be the winner of the game between the Richmond Spiders and Providence Friars. The game will take place on Friday, March 25th and tip time will be announced at the conclusion of the second round tomorrow.