FORT WORTH, Texas _ A second trip to Texas in as many weeks has once again resulted in a much-needed victory for the Kansas basketball team.
The Jayhawks, who lost to Texas Tech on Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse just three nights after having beaten Texas in Austin, took down TCU, 88-84, on Saturday night at sold-out Schollmaier Arena.
The victory, paced by Devonte Graham's 28 points and Svi Mykhailiuk's 20 (as well as Mitch Lightfoot's nine points, seven boards and six blocks) prevented No. 10-ranked KU from falling to 1-2 in Big 12 play for the first time since the 2005-06 season.
Instead, the Jayhawks (12-3, 2-1 in the Big 12), who are seeking an unprecedented 14th straight conference crown, did improve to 2-1 and obviously remain right in the mix in what figures to be in a highly-competitive league.
KU, which hit 11 of 20 3s and 22 of 33 free throws, won its 15th game in 17 tries versus the Horned Frogs (13-2, 1-2).
No. 16-ranked TCU was led by Vlad Brodziansky's 20 points and five boards.
Udoka Azubuike had 14 points on 6 of 6 shooting for KU, but he fouled out with 4:57 left in the game with KU up 72-71.
The game was tied 77-77 at the final TV timeout (3:27). At that point, KU's Marcus Garrett broke the tie with two free throws. That was followed by two free throws by Graham at 2:02 and two more by Graham at 1:07. KU led by six, but Desmond Bane cashed a big 3 for TCU at 1:04 left that sliced the gap to 83-80.
Graham then had a shot blocked inside, but then Lightfoot blocked a possible game-tying 3 from Jaylen Fisher with 26 seconds left in the game. Graham followed with two free throws to make it 85-80. However TCU cut it to 85-82 at 12.1 seconds left in the game.
Graham was tackled after the inbounds pass, and with KU up three points he went to the line at 11.3 and hit two free throws to make it 87-82. But TCU made it 87-84 at 5.7 seconds.
That sent KU's Malik Newman to the line at 4.5 seconds with a three-point lead. He made one of two free throws for his first point of the night, and KU won 88-84.
Graham scored 13 points and Mykhailiuk 12 on combined 8 of 16 shooting (4 of 7 from 3) and KU led 42-34 at halftime. Azubuike, who had 10 points on 4 of 4 shooting (2-2 from line) picked up his second foul with 9:30 left in the half and KU up 29-19. He did not return the remainder of the half, KU only losing two points off that 10-point margin. KU though did lead by as many as 14 points twice during the initial half.
KU hit 15 of 26 shots the first half for 57.7 percent. That included 5 of 10 3s.
TCU's Brodziansky, like Azubuike, was called for two fouls the first half and played just 11 minutes, scoring four points with two boards. Fisher hit three 3s and had nine points in the half. TCU hit 5 of 17 3s the first half and 11 of 32 shots overall for 34.4 percent.
KU and TCU were tied at half on the boards, 15-15.
KU, which hit its first seven shots, used a 13-0 run to stretch a 9-8 lead at 16:54 to 22-8 at 13:22. Mykhailiuk had nine points, Graham seven and Azubuike six to account for KU's first 22 points. Fisher cashed three 3-pointers and the Frogs cut the gap to 26-19 at 11:31. Graham scored six points in a 9-5 run and KU led, 38-24, at 5:11. However, TCU was able to cut it to 40-32 at 3:41. KU did not score the final 2:28 of the half.
