LAHAINA, Hawaii — Kansas doesn’t seem to understand that you’re supposed to treat your host well. ADVERTISING LAHAINA, Hawaii — Kansas doesn’t seem to understand that you’re supposed to treat your host well. The fifth-ranked Jayhawks had seven players score
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Kansas doesn’t seem to understand that you’re supposed to treat your host well.
The fifth-ranked Jayhawks had seven players score in double figures in a 123-72 victory over Chaminade, the Division II host of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, in the opening round Monday night.
It was the worst loss in the 32 years of the tournament for the Silverswords. The previous worst was a 48-point defeat to Kansas in 2005.
“Why don’t we forget about this game and just play another one,” Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird said. “They were as good as we thought. They come at you in waves and we didn’t think they would shoot from the outside the way they did.”
Wayne Selden Jr. and Sviatoslav Mykhaliuk both scored 18 points for Kansas while Devonte Graham had 15, Frank Mason III 14, Landen Lucas 13 and Hunter Mickelson and Perry Ellis both had 11 for the Jayhawks, who shot 64.4 percent from the field (47 for 73).
“We made shots and everybody looks better when you make shots,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “The defense got better as we went along.”
Kansas (2-1) will play the winner of the UNLV-UCLA game in the semifinals on Tuesday. The Jayhawks bounced back from a 79-73 loss to then-No. 13 Michigan State last week in the Champions Classic.
“I think tonight did a lot for some guys’ confidence,” said Lucas, who had 12 rebounds. “Defensively we still have a lot to work on. But it’s always good to see guys shoot like that.”
Chaminade, from Honolulu, dropped to 7-85 in the 32 years of the tournament. The only way to an upset was to beat Kansas from the outside and the Silverswords took almost as many 3-point field goals (33) as 2-point shots (36). Kansas beat them at their own game, however, finishing 15 of 29 from beyond the arc while Chaminade was 8 of 33.
“We have good shooters but tonight we didn’t make them,” Chaminade’s Rohndell Goodwin said. “It wasn’t their height that made us shoot from the outside. We have good shooters.”
Kiran Shastri had 17 points for the Silverswords (0-3) while Goodwin added 15.
The Silverswords, known for beating then-No. 1 Virginia and Ralph Sampson in 1982, had a moral victory of sorts. They pulled to 14-13 with 13:43 to play in the first half on a 3-pointer by Shastri, forcing Self to call a timeout. The Jayhawks took over from there and led 53-33 at halftime.
“Chaminade is the kind of team that can hang around and that’s what they did at the start,” Self said.
No. 13 Indiana 82,
Wake Forest 78
LAHAINA, Hawaii – Tom Crean didn’t care what the box score said, his 13th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers didn’t play 40 minutes against Wake Forest.
“We played 15, 16 good minutes when we got the lead to nine points,” he said. “Then we started committing turnovers and taking quick shots. You’re not going to beat anybody with 16 good minutes, especially at Maui.”
Freshman guard Bryant Crawford made a driving layup with 3.2 seconds to play to give the Demon Deacons the lead and they went on to an 82-78 victory in the opening round of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational on Monday.
The Hoosiers (3-1) will play St. John’s in the consolation round on Tuesday.
“We learned a hard lesson,” forward Max Bielfeldt said. “Being in the losers’ bracket isn’t something we planned for. Things didn’t go our way.”
Crawford had the ball at the head of the key for about 8 seconds before he put his head down and using a screen by Thomas drove to the basket to give Wake Forest (3-1) the lead.
“That was a great play by Bryant, to turn the corner and to find the seam and score,” Wake Forest coach Danny Manning said. “We were fortunate enough to score.”
Wake Forest will face No. 19 Vanderbilt in the semifinals on Tuesday.
“We won our first game and there’s not a lot of time to celebrate,” Manning said. “We will celebrate on the bus but once we get to the hotel property we will be getting ready for Vanderbilt, another good team.”
Vanderbilt 92,
St. John’s 55
LAHAINA, Hawaii – Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings knew his team was ready to compete. He just didn’t expect the 19th-ranked Commodores’ 92-55 victory over St. John’s on Monday in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.
“I don’t think you ever anticipate a game like that,” he said after his team shot 53 percent from the field, 48 percent from 3-point range and outrebounded the Red Storm 49-26. “We had a lot of people play well and we shot the ball well.”
Jeff Roberson had 11 points and 13 rebounds for Vanderbilt, which opened the game with a 27-4 run.
