KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ To the delight of its fans who rocked Sprint Center on Thursday night, Kansas is just one victory from its first Final Four appearance since 2012 and third in the 14-year Bill Self era.
The Jayhawks (31-4), the top-seeded team in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional, continued to play to its lofty seeding, blasting Big Ten regular-season champion and No. 4 seed Purdue, 98-66, before a sellout crowd (18,475) at the Sweet 16 game _ a crowd that appeared to include at least 80 percent KU fans, maybe more.
Devonte Graham scored 26 points as did Frank Mason, while Josh Jackson had 15 points, Lagerald Vick 12 and Svi Mykhailiuk 10 for KU, which will now meet Oregon on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four in Phoenix.
Caleb Swanigan had 18 points for Purdue.
Kansas became the first team since UConn in 1995 to score 90 or more points in its first three tourney games.
Graham hit 7 of 15 shots, including 5 of 9 on 3-pointers. Mason hit 9 of 11 shots, including 4 of 5 from 3. Mason had seven rebounds and seven assists. Jackson had 12 rebounds to go with his 15 points. KU hit 54.8 percent of its shots from the field, including 15 of 28 from 3, and made 15 of 22 free throws.
The Jayhawks used a 22-7 run to close the first half and that helped turn a 33-25 deficit (at 6:45) into a 47-40 halftime lead. Kansas then went on a 16-3 second-half run (highlighted by a Lagerald Vick 360-degree slam) that upped a 53-51 lead to 69-54 with 10:42 left in the tame. KU built the lead to 16 points (72-56) at 9:41 and 74-58 at 9:03. The margin increased to 18 points _ 78-60 at 7:58 and 24 points at 84-60 with 5:28 left and all the way to 91-64 at 3:01. KU just kept scoring and scoring in the second half. All in all the Jayhawks scored 51 points in the second half.
Vick's dunk was a crowd pleaser. He raced in unchallenged and twirled all the way around for a slam that made the score 63-54. Jackson followed with a 3-pointer, and Purdue was forced to call a timeout down 12.
The Boilermakers, 27-8, came to play, leading, 8-2, out of the gate and, 18-11, at 13:59 after hitting 6 of 9 shots. Purdue led 25-18 at 10:51 and 33-25, at 6:45.
At that point, the Jayhawks started to click, closing the half on its 22-7 run and taking a 47-40 lead into the break. Mason scored 15 points the first half and Graham 10, while Mykhailiuk had eight and Jackson seven. KU hit 8 of 16 threes in the half and 45.7 percent overall.
Purdue's Isaac Haas did damage inside, scoring 11 points the first half on 5-of-6 shooting. Big Ten player of the year Swanigan, however, had just six points in the half, making one basket in two tries and three of four free-throws.
The 22-7 run, however, was the big story of the half, turning the eight-point deficit into a sizable seven-point halftime lead.
Mykhailiuk hit back-to-back 3s during an 11-2 portion of that run that gave KU a 36-35 lead at 4:41. Jackson then scored KU's next five points on a slam dunk and three as KU led 41-36 at 2:45. Mason hit a free-throw to make it 42-36 as KU had scored 17 of the game's last 20 points. Purdue cut it to, 42-40, on a Haas bucket at 1:07 that followed a hoop by P.J. Thompson.
Mason, assisted by a Dwight Coleby screen, hit a 3 at with 41 seconds left in the half. And KU scored the final bucket of the half in spectacular fashion to go up, 47-40. Vick stole the ball near halfcourt in the closing seconds, the ball hitting a ref and staying in bounds. Vick dished to Graham, who dished back to Vick for a slam to conclude the first-half scoring.
