Arkansas tops Kansas 79-72, handing the Jayhawks their first NCAA Tournament first-round loss since 2006
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Jonas Aidoo scored 22 points to help 10th-seeded Arkansas to a 79-72 opening-round NCAA Tournament victory over No. 7 seed Kansas on Thursday night in the latest meeting between two of college basketball's winningest coaches.
Johnell Davis added 18 points, including some crucial late free throws, to help John Calipari to his first tournament victory as Razorbacks coach. Freshman standout Boogie Fland played for the first time since having right thumb surgery in January and scored six points in 24 minutes.
Arkansas will get either No. 2 seed St. John's or No. 15 Omaha in the second round of the West Region on Saturday.
Zeke Mayo had 18 points for Kansas (21-13), which has made 35 straight NCAA Tournaments and hadn't lost in the first round since 2006. AJ Storr finished with 15 points and Hunter Dickinson added 11 points and nine rebounds.
Thursday's matchup was the third March Madness meeting between two of the four active win leaders in men's college basketball. Calipari is second (876), with Bill Self of Kansas fourth (831) on the list. Both previous meetings were in the national championship game, with each winning once.
Kansas erased an 11-point, second-half deficit and nudged ahead 65-64 on a follow shot by Storr with less than six minutes remaining.
The Jayhawks kept the lead until Aidoo connected on a pair of free throws to put the Razorbacks back in front. Arkansas got a stop on the other end and then got a 3-pointer by Davis that gave it a 71-67 cushion with less than two minutes on the clock.
Arkansas' edge was down to 71-69 before Davis dropped in a pair of free throws. Dickinson missed a 3 attempt on Kansas' next trip and Arkansas added two more free throws.
The Jayhawks got it back down to 75-72 on a 3-pointer by Rylan Griffen with 13 seconds left. The Razorbacks called back-to-back timeouts trying to get the ball inbounds. They finally did and Davis calmly sank two free throws to help close it out.
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