NEW YORK _ Kansas' season-opening, eight-day, 10,000-mile journey officially ends Wednesday afternoon when, if all goes well, the Jayhawks' charter flight departs LaGuardia Airport at 1 p.m., lands in Topeka, Kan., a couple hours later with the team bus pulling into an Allen Fieldhouse parking lot shortly before the sun sets.
Highlights of the trip?
Tours of Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 Memorial and oh, yes, Tuesday night's 77-75 Champions Classic victory over No. 1 Duke in Madison Square Garden _ a win that most certainly helped ease the sting of Friday's 103-99 overtime loss to No. 6 Indiana.
The victory was assured when Frank Mason iced a 15-footer with 1.8 seconds left to bust a 75-75 tie. Mason finished with 21 points, including 17 the final half.
Josh Jackson scored 11 of his 15 points the second half, including nine in a 14-4 run that turned a 39-39 tie into a 53-43 advantage with 10:48 left. KU extended the lead to a game-high 12 at 62-50. However Duke came all the way back, tying it at 75 before Mason's heroic shot.
Jackson _ he hit a left-handed bankshot and three in that surge _ wasn't the only freshman to shine. Udoka Azubuike had four points and senior Mason one helping the Jayhawks build a double digit lead.
Devonte Graham had 13 points while Lagerald Vick and Carlton Bragg had nine apiece. Luke Kennard had 22 for Duke.
Duke, which grabbed early leads of 7-2 and 15-6 _ only to have the Jayhawks knot the score at 16 following a 10-1 run _ led at halftime, 34-29.
Senior Amile Jefferson scored 11 points the first half (he also committed five turnovers) while playing 18 minutes. He scored the final five points of the half, single-handedly helping Duke turn a 29-29 tie into the five-point lead.
National player of the year candidate Grayson Allen missed seven of his first eight shots and had five points the first half while playing 18 minutes. He was injured after getting his shot blocked by Mitch Lightfoot late in the half. He returned and finished with 12.
KU, which missed seven of nine free throws the first half, was led by Graham's nine points. He played all 20 minutes in a half in which Carlton Bragg played just four minutes, thanks in part to his committing two fouls.
KU now returns home for a busy stretch.
KU will play eight games in 23 days _ five in Allen Fieldhouse and three in KC's Sprint Center _ prior to heading to Las Vegas for a Dec. 22 contest against UNLV.
Here are the specifics: KU will play host to Siena at 7 p.m., Friday, in Allen Fieldhouse _ beginning a grueling stretch that includes a game almost every three days.
The Siena game is a guarantee game that is actually part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. That event includes two games in Sprint Center _ Monday versus UAB (8:30 p.m. tip) and Tuesday against either Georgia or George Washington (6:30 or 9 p.m.). KU plays UNC Asheville the day after Thanksgiving as a final guarantee game in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 25, in Allen. KU will play home games against Long Beach State (Nov. 29), Stanford (Dec. 3), UMKC (Dec. 6) and Nebraska (Dec. 10).
KU then gets a break during finals week, taking several days off before tangling with Davidson on Dec. 17 in Sprint Center.
