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Drew Timme scored 25 points, Jalen Suggs 24 and Corey Kispert added 23 as No.1 Gonzaga moved away from No.6 Kansas for a 102-90 victory on Thursday in the season opener. men’s basketball for both teams.
The Bulldogs built a double-digit first-half lead at Rocket Mortgage Fort Myers Tip-Off, then saw the Jayhawks tie the game twice in the second half before putting them away. Gonzaga had a 22-7 run to come up 96-78.
Suggs, who got into trouble in the first half, scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half.
Marcus Garrett led Kansas with 22 points and Ochai Agbaji added 17 points. Agbai picked up his fourth foul midway through the second period, which injured the Jayhawks. When he left, Kansas was trailing 70-67.
With Gonzaga in the lead 29-15, Kansas made a few runs to reduce the deficit to as low as five. However, Kispert warmed up and kept the Jayhawks at bay. Gonzaga was leading 54-46 at the half.
The Bulldogs showed good balance. While they beat Kansas 30-14 in the paint, they had 5 of 10 to 3 points. They also made 68% of their shots in the first period (21 of 31).
With the win, Gonzaga’s Mark Few claimed his 600th victory in his 724th game, becoming the third fastest manager to reach 600 wins in Division I history behind Adolph Rupp (704) and Jerry Tarkanian (720) , according to ESPN Stats & Information.
COVID19 NEWS
Three Gonzaga non-athletes were isolating themselves in their hotel rooms after testing positive for COVID-19.
A total of 112 tests were performed and no player from any of the four participating teams tested positive, event officials said. Auburn and Saint Joseph’s are also participating in the event.
BIG PICTURE
The way these teams played against each other, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Gonzaga and Kansas meet again late in the NCAA tournament, possibly the Final Four.
The Bulldogs are deep and seem to be able to play defense as well as any Few team. They can mark from inside and outside.
Kansas never gives up. Few teams in the country have been able to get a 14-point hole against the country’s No.1 team and come back to a tie. However, the Jayhawks couldn’t recover from Gonzaga’s second offensive attack.
NEXT
Gonzaga, who will play four morning non-conference games in West Coast Time, including the first 10 clashes with Baylor and Iowa, will play in Auburn at 11 a.m. ET on Friday.
Kansas, which also has a tough non-conference schedule, including Kentucky and Creighton, will play Saint Joseph’s on Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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