Lagerald Vick leads Jayhawks to rout of Long Beach State

Kansas sophomore Lagerald Vick’s second career start proved even more productive than his first.

Vick, a 6-foot-5, 175-pound sophomore from Memphis, who scored 15 points versus UNC Asheville, tied that career-best scoring mark with 15 points in the first half alone — he finishing with 23 points — in the No. 4-ranked Jayhawks’ 91-61 victory over Long Beach State on Tuesday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

Vick, who along with Udoka Azubuike started for the second straight contest, hit went 9 of 9 from the field (4 of 4 from three). The KU record for most field goals without a miss in a single game is 10 by Danny Manning (1986) and Norm Cook (1973).

“I think Carlton must be mad at him or something. That’s probably the worst foul we’ve committed since we’ve been here or Lagerald would have gotten the record,” KU coach Bill Self said.

Bragg pulled down a 49er player not involved in the play at all.

Vick wasn’t concerned about the fact he came close to breaking a longstanding record.

“Coach said something about it after the game. I mean, we were just trying to win the game,” Vick said. “I think I played all right. I could have rebounded more (two boards in 29 minutes) but we won the game.”

Vick cashed three three-pointers in as many tries the first half as KU rolled to a 48-25 halftime lead.

“I felt comfortable and confident,” Vick said. “The team has been hyping me up. I look forward to better games in the future. It feels good. I was not shooting well to start the season. I was fading back on my shot. One of my friends (at KU) showed me a video. Coach (Kurtis) Townsend noticed it. I stopped doing that.”

For KU, Svi Mykhailiuk had 14 points, Josh Jackson 13 points and five rebounds, Devonté Graham 12 points and four assists and Frank Mason eight points, eight assists and six rebounds.

Graham and Jackson each had 10 points the first half.

Vick scored seven points to help the Jayhawks grab a 12-7 lead, adding five more in a 23-6 run that stretched a 14-13 lead to 37-19 with 5:09 left in the first half. Jackson had seven points, Graham six and Mykhailiuk five in that surge. KU ended the half on a 34-12 run, opening it up after leading by just one five minutes into the contest.

Landen Lucas, who has been battling a sore foot, was held out of the game.

Carlton Bragg, who along with Lucas has struggled to start the season, entered five minutes into the game and picked up two fouls in a minute and returned to the bench. He finished with six points in 11 minutes.

Long Beach State has lost at Wichita State (92-55), North Carolina (93-67), Louisville (88-56), UCLA (114-77), Washington (94-88) and Florida Gulf Coast (68-67 OT).

Former KU coach Larry Brown, who led SMU’s program the past four seasons, attended and sat a couple rows behind the KU bench.

KU will play Stanford at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse. Stanford is coached by former KU guard Jerod Haase.

This story was originally published November 29, 2016 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Lagerald Vick leads Jayhawks to rout of Long Beach State."