KU uses 22-0 run to open second half and blitz Marquette 77-68 in NIT semifinals

After allowing 11 Marquette three-pointers the first half, Kansas’ determined basketball defenders looked as if they might pitch a shutout the second half of Wednesday’s 77-68 come-from-behind victory over Marquette in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Barclays Center.

“When you are getting embarrassed and they are punking you so to speak, you’d think guys would want to fight and come back and maybe play with more fire,” KU coach Bill Self said matter-of-factly in discussing a 22-0, game-breaking run that covered the first 9 minutes, 17 seconds of the final stanza.

That surge — which came in response to a first half in which the Golden Eagles hit 11 of 21 threes to KU’s 4 of 7 — turned the Jayhawks’ nine-point halftime deficit (47-38) into a 13-point lead at 60-47.

“We were so bad the first half. We were so slow. They were so quick and had us on our heels. The second half was a flip,” Self said. “We defended and were able to play through Dedric (Lawson, 26 points, 12 rebounds; 15 points the final half). Marquette is so dangerous. Everybody can shoot. The second half we did a much better job taking the three away.”

The No. 2-ranked Jayhawks outscored the Golden Eagles 39-21 the final half, thus assured themselves a spot in Friday’s 8:30 p.m. final against No. 5-ranked Tennessee, a 92-81 winner over Louisville in Wednesday’s other semifinal.

“I think they shocked us early on, to be honest,” Self said. “I was shocked how bad we were on switches and things like that we’ve been practicing so much. It’s like we went brain dead.”

Marquette forward Sam Hauser hit five threes the first half, good for 17 of his 20 points. He cashed just one three the final half.

Point guard Markus Howard converted three threes the first half while scoring 13 points. He hit one three the final half and finished with 18 points and six assists in 38 minutes.

Marquette was 0-for-10 to begin the stanza.

“I would say we responded from his halftime message,” KU junior forward Mitch Lightfoot said, not going into great detail regarding Self’s halftime talk. “Coach is always pretty inspirational with his talks. He does a great job getting us locked in what we need to do to be successful.

“Doke was very positive (in locker room),” Lightfoot added of junior center Udoka Azubuike, who had six points and four boards in just 15 minutes. “It (positive message) kept going around to everybody else. We listened to what coach said. It got us back in the game rather quickly. Dedric played well. We’re glad to get the ‘W.’’’

Self’s Jayhawks — he started Marcus Garrett in place of Quentin Grimes the final half for defensive reasons — appeared to exert better effort in getting out to the shooter in the second half of a game played before 4,981 fans in an arena that seats 19,000.

“Marquette came out firing away,” junior forward Lawson said. “Coach got on us about being tough. I’ll not tell you the words he used, just to be ‘on our man.’

“We took Markus Howard out of the game (via strong defense by Devon Dotson). We sped him up. Cut the head off the snake and we started to roll,” added Lawson, who hit 9 of 16 shots and was 7 of 7 from the line.

The 22-0 run was apparently a source of pride in the winner’s locker room.

“I wasn’t (aware). Coach told us after the game,” Lawson said. “I knew we were getting a lot of stops. I looked up and we were up by eight. I was, ‘Let’s keep going, keep going.’ They finally made a three (Hauser at 10:43 for first points of half), something they were doing the first half.

“Marquette’s a great offensive team. To hold them to all those stops the second half is great for us moving forward,” Lawson added.

Lagerald Vick contributed 16 points, Garrett 11 and Dotson 10 points for KU, which went 5 of 10 from three and 16 of 24 from the line. Marquette hit 14 of 31 threes and was 4 of 5 from the stripe.

“That was a pretty good team playing there in the second half,” Self said of the Jayhawks, who outshot Marquette, 48.5 percent to 25.9 (48.3 percent for game to Marquette’s 41.7)

Marquette’s 11 threes the first half were two shy of Villanova’s record-setting total of 13 in the first half of last year’s Final Four semifinal victory over the Jayhawks in San Antonio.

Lawson and Vick led the Jayhawks with 11 points apiece the first half. Vick, who entered 15 of 20 from three the past two games, hit his first three threes of the night.

KU used an early 11-0 run to grab a 16-8 six minutes into the game. The Jayhawks maintained the eight point margin, 19-11, at 13:01.

However, from that point on, Marquette rolled thanks to its torrid three-point shooting display.

The Golden Eagles used a 14-3 run to grab a 25-22 advantage at 8:46. The run increased to 21-7, giving Marquette a 32-26 margin at 5:49. The run increased to 25-9 and 31-11 as the Golden Eagles led, 42-30, at 2:11.

Marquette hit six threes in that 31-11 surge and held a nine-point lead at halftime.

In the first semifinal contest Wednesday, No. 5-ranked Tennessee defeated unranked Louisville, 92-81. Junior forward Grant Williams, the preseason player of the year in the SEC, scored 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting with nine rebounds and four assists. Senior guard Admiral Schofield contributed 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting (4 of 8 threes) with six rebounds and four assists.

Sophomore forward Jordan Nwora exploded for 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting with 10 rebounds for Louisville. He had eight of the Cardinals’ 14 turnovers.

Junior forward Dwayne Sutton scored 12 points on 4-for-6 three-point shooting with five rebounds. Senior forward Akoy Agau came off the bench to score 11 points with five rebounds for the Cardinals.

Louisville and Marquette will meet at 6 p.m., Central on Friday with the KU-Tennessee game to follow about 8:30.

This story was originally published November 21, 2018 at 8:42 PM with the headline "KU uses 22-0 run to open second half and blitz Marquette 77-68 in NIT semifinals."