David McCormack led four Kansas players scoring in double figures, and the fourth-ranked Jayhawks beat BYU 71-56 on Tuesday to advance to the championship game of the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Kansas (5-1) will face Dayton for the title. The Flyers won their second rout in as many days, an 89-62 win over Virginia Tech. The Cougars (4-3) will oppose the Hokies in the third-place game.
The Jayhawks held BYU scoreless for more than five minutes in a pivotal second-half stretch. Pairing stifling defense with a dominant offensive approach in the lane, Kansas blew the game open with a 21-4 run.
Kansas' interior duo of McCormack and Udoka Azubuike paced the Jayhawks to a 42-18 edge on points in the paint. Azubuike recorded 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Ochai Agbaji scored 14 points for Kansas, and Devon Dotson added 13 points and eight assists. Dotson, Marcus Garrett and Isaiah Moss all came away with two steals to help set the tone on a standout defensive night for the Jayhawks.
BYU could not replicate the effective offensive pace it found down the stretch Monday in a win over UCLA. Kansas held the Cougars to 22-of-54 shooting (40.7 percent) from the floor and forced 20 turnovers, which the Jayhawks turned into 17 points. Kansas also put up 13 points on fastbreaks.
TJ Haws led BYU with 16 points, and Kolby Lee scored 13 points. Jake Toolson, the Cougars' leading scorer on the season at 16.7 points per game, finished with seven points on 3-of-9 shooting.
Kansas' lockdown defense compensated for the Jayhawks' own shooting woes. The Jayhawks went just 4 of 18 from behind the 3-point arc, 2 of 9 in both halves. But in the second half, the Jayhawks scored much more effectively inside the arc, netting 26 of their points in the paint after intermission.
--Field Level Media
Kansas | Brigham Young | |
David McCormack 16 | Scoring | TJ Haws 16 |
Devon Dotson 8 | Assists | TJ Haws 5 |
Udoka Azubuike 10 | Rebounds | Connor Harding 7 |
Devon Dotson 3 | Free Throws Made | Zac Seljaas 2 |
Devon Dotson 2 | Steals | Dalton Nixon 3 |
Tristan Enaruna 1 | Blocks | Trevin Knell 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Kansas | 71 | 47.5 | 4-18 | 9-15 | 18 | 34 | 1 | 9 | 12 |
Brigham Young | 56 | 40.7 | 9-33 | 3-4 | 14 | 31 | 1 | 5 | 20 |