Isaiah Evans scored 16 points and Patrick Ngongba scored 13 on 4-of-4 shooting for the Blue Devils (5-0).
Advertisement
The Jayhawks (3-2) were still without their best player, freshman Darryn Peterson, the nation’s top recruit and potentially the No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA draft, due to a persistent hamstring injury. Peterson has missed three straight games since getting hurt during shootaround.
Peterson’s absence was enough to make the difference at Madison Square Garden even though the Blue Devils were less consistent than in their previous four wins. Kansas rattled Duke with some fast-break points early before being worn down by foul trouble and a depth disparity.
All five Kansas starters committed at least one foul and three each committed two in the first half, and Duke closed on a 17-5 run to lead by eight. The Jayhawks cut their deficit to 67-64 on a 3-pointer by Melvin Council Jr. with 4:59 left.
The disgust’s discomfort manifested itself in some tired legs. Flory Bidunga scored his fourth with more than seven minutes left and Bryson Tiller fouled out with 3:04 remaining.
Advertisement
Evans hit a 3-pointer coming out of the less than 4-minute timeout, and Cameron Boozer scored four of the eight points in Duke’s 8-0 run to pull away.
Tre White tried at all times to keep Kansas in the game, scoring 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Next
Kansas: Faces Notre Dame on Monday night in each team’s opening game of the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas.
Duke: Hosts Niagara on Friday night.