LAWRENCE, Kan. _ Kansas fared well in its one-game break from the grind of Big 12 basketball on Saturday by beating former Big 12 and current SEC member Texas A&M 79-68 in a Big 12/SEC Challenge contest at Allen Fieldhouse.
Svi Mykhailiuk scored 24 points on 8 of 15 shooting _ including 4 of 8 3-pointers _ and Malik Newman added 15 points and seven rebounds as the No. 5 Jayhawks (17-4) improved to 21-1 all-time against the Aggies (13-8), who played in the Big 12 for 16 seasons.
Lagerald Vick scored 10 points for the Jayhawks, and freshman guard Marcus Garrett added nine points. Udoka Azubuike had eight points and six rebounds. He did not attempt a free throw after going 5 of 19 at the line his last two games.
Tyler Davis scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Robert Williams and T.J. Starks had 11 points apiece for A&M, which outrebounded KU 40-33.
Sophomore forward Mitch Lightfoot hit a 3 from the far corner to beat the first-half buzzer and give KU a 45-27 lead at the break. The Jayhawks knocked down 10 first-half 3s in 19 attempts to A&M's 2 of 10 from beyond the arc. For the game KU hit 12 of 26 3s to A&M's 5 of 18.
Mykhailiuk scored 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting in the initial half. He made three 3-pointers in five tries, and also had four rebounds. The Jayhawks were outrebounded by just one _ 21-20 _ in the half against a much taller A&M team. Vick, Graham and Newman all hit two 3s in the half.
Starks and D.J. Hogg (nine points) had seven points each in the initial half for the Aggies.
Kansas made four 3s in five tries and outrebounded A&M six to two in the early going, and led 14-7 at 15:50. Mykhailiuk had eight points and Newman six.
KU started clicking offensively after A&M sliced the gap to 20-18 at 11:41. The Jayhawks went on an 18-3 surge to lead 38-21 at the 6:01 mark. Vick had two 3s, while Mykhailiuk had one 3 and five points in the run.
The Jayhawks led by 18 points at the break, their biggest lead of the half. The closest A&M came the second half was 10 points.
Azubuike had six rebounds in the first half. He missed four of five shots, but was not fouled in the act of shooting thus did not attempt any free throws in the half. He worked extensively on free throws in pregame warmups.
He was called for a technical foul the second half for staring down Davis after dunking to give KU a 52-35 lead at 17:17. A&M scored three straight points to make it 52-38, but again ultimately came no closer than 10.
A&M sliced the gap to 69-58 at 6:51.
