LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas senior guard Ochai Agbaji continued his early-season scoring spree on Thursday night, erupting for 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting in No. 3-ranked Kansas’ 88-59 victory over Stony Brook at Allen Fieldhouse.
The 6-foot-5 Oak Park High graduate, who scored 29 points in the opener against Michigan State and 25 more against Tarleton State, had 10 points the first half and 10 in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the final half for the (3-0) Jayhawks. Agbaji hit 4 of 11 threes on a night he played 30 minutes.
KU senior forward David McCormack scored 12 points and grabbed eight boards after a slow start, and Zach Clemence, who hit two threes in the first 12 minutes of the final half had 11 points and five rebounds on a night Kansas starting guard Remy Martin did not score.
That’s right, former Arizona State standout Martin had zero points on 0-for-2 shooting with four rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes.
Agbaji has scored 79 points in three games, the most by a Jayhawk in the first three games of a season since at least 2010. Frank Mason had 69 points in the first three games in 2016-17.
KU, which has not been at full strength following the preseason suspension of returning starter Jalen Wilson, has opened the season with a 3-0 record. KU entered Thursday’s game 25 1/2-point favorites in their third game without sophomore forward Wilson. He has now served his suspension and is slated to return for next Thursday’s game against North Texas in the ESPN Events Invitational in Florida.
Agbaji, who has admirably filled the score book with points in Wilson’s absence for KU, which trailed by seven points early and led by just six at halftime.
Agbaji — who had 10 points in the first half as KU led 38-32 at the break — poured in 10 points in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second half. Thanks in great part to that outburst, KU led 54-42 at 15:24.
Stony Brook — which went 6 of 13 on three-pointers the first half (9 of 25 overall) to KU’s 2-of-10 three-point shooting (10 of 28 overall) — had lost to George Mason in its only previous game, 72-54.
Agbaji had 10 points and McCormack heated up after struggling the first few minutes to score eight in the first half. Mitch Lightfoot had six.
Juan Felix Rodriguez had eight in the half for Stony Brook. Tykei Greene led the Seawolves with 11 points total.
KU has defeated Michigan State (by 13 points), Tarleton State (by 26) and Stony Brook to start the campaign.
