Jayhawks get friendly late whistle to advance in March Madness with 93-89 victory over Samford
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Nicolas Timberlake of Kansas swears he got fouled. If he did, Samford’s A.J. Staton-McCray insisted, then “I guess Casper hit him.”
The fourth-seeded Jayhawks took advantage of what looked like a phantom foul in the waning seconds Thursday night that set up two key free throws by Timberlake for a 93-89 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The 13th-seeded Bulldogs used their frenetic press and deep bench to trim a 22-point deficit to one with less than a minute left. They were trapping KU in the backcourt when Timberlake took a long pass in stride as he was streaking toward the basket.
As he went up to dunk, Staton-McCray came from behind and blocked the shot, appearing to touch nothing but ball.
The whistle blew and Timberlake calmly made both free throws with 14.7 seconds left to help Bill Self's team push the lead to three and set up a second-round meeting against Gonzaga.
“I was definitely fouled on the breakaway,” Timberlake said.
Well, maybe not, according to Staton-McCray.
“I feel like it was a great play by me,” he said “Terrible call.”
The debate will play out for about a day back in Lawrence, where bigger things await, but will linger longer in Birmingham, where tiny Samford, champion of the Southern Conference, was denied the first tournament victory in program history.
“I thought A.J. made an incredible play, you know what I’m saying?” Samford coach Bucky McMillan said. “I’m not faulting the call. You can see it different ways. But I was really proud of our guys’ ability to go make a play.”
The call certainly didn't detract from the game Hunter Dickinson had for Kansas.
Playing with a sleeve on to protect his recently dislocated right shoulder, the KU center finished with 19 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks. KJ Adams Jr., led the Jayhawks with 20 points, while Timberlake finished with 19 after his two game-deciding free throws.
Self’s team came into the tournament slumping - a popular pick to go down early without leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr. (knee) and having lost four of its last five.
The Jayhawks play on. But the Kansas coach wouldn't play into the good call-bad call debate.
“I thought Nic attacked the basket well,” Self said. “He’s a much better athlete than what a lot of people think. He attacked it strong, just like he should.”
That he had legs left to do that was a feat, given the way Samford played fullcourt basketball for 40 minutes, slowly wearing down a KU rotation that had essentially been reduced to six players.
Achor Achor had 23 points and eight rebounds for Samford, including a tomahawk jam with 38 seconds that cut the Bulldog deficit to two.
Dickinson then hit Adams with a long pass for a dunk, but Jaden Campbell (18 points) answered with a 3-pointer for the Bulldogs to set up the crazy finish.
Kansas, and the refs, walked off the court to lusty boos from the rowdy Samford contingent, many of whom stuck around, calling up replays of the foul call on their phones.
The Jayhawks won this game, but they were forced to do it Samford’s way. The Bulldogs rushed Kansas into tying its season high with 18 turnovers.
The tradeoff was that Kansas shot 60% from the floor and made this look like a dunk contest at times. Of KU's 35 field goals, 14 were layups and eight were slams
The biggest shot, though, was the one that didn’t go in by Timberlake.
“I’m not blaming the whistle (but) if there is no whistle, we’re going to have the numbers advantage going the other way to advance to round two,” McMillan said. "That’s how close the game was and that’s how well our guys played when we were down 22.”
UP NEXT
The first tipoff Saturday in Salt Lake City will be at 10:45 a.m. local time between Arizona and Dayton, with the Kansas-Gonzaga matchup to follow. This will mark the third matchup between the programs; they split the last two.
MYSTERY TECH
A technical foul on the Samford bench gave Kansas two easy points in the first half that turned out to be important in a game this close. Samford officials said they weren't told which coach was slapped with the ‘T,’ which was officially charged to the bench.
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Time | Team | Play | Score | |
---|---|---|---|---|
20:00 | Achor Achor vs. Hunter Dickinson (Dajuan Harris Jr. gains possession) | |||
19:38 | +3 | Johnny Furphy makes three point jump shot (KJ Adams Jr. assists) | 0-3 | |
19:25 | Johnny Furphy kicked ball violation | |||
19:22 | +2 | Jermaine Marshall makes two point cutting layup (Achor Achor assists) | 2-3 | |
18:56 | +2 | KJ Adams Jr. makes two point cutting layup (Hunter Dickinson assists) | 2-5 | |
18:40 | Achor Achor misses three point jump shot | |||
18:38 | Dallas Graziani offensive rebound | |||
18:33 | Jaden Campbell misses three point jump shot | |||
18:31 | Achor Achor offensive rebound | |||
18:30 | +2 | Achor Achor makes two point layup | 4-5 | |
18:21 | Jaden Campbell personal foul (Dajuan Harris Jr. draws the foul) | |||
18:07 | +3 | Johnny Furphy makes three point jump shot (Dajuan Harris Jr. assists) | 4-8 | |
17:49 | Nicolas Timberlake shooting foul (Jaden Campbell draws the foul) | |||
17:49 | Jaden Campbell misses regular free throw 1 of 2 | |||
17:49 | +1 | Jaden Campbell makes regular free throw 2 of 2 | 5-8 | |
17:42 | Dajuan Harris Jr. misses two point layup | |||
17:40 | Dajuan Harris Jr. offensive rebound | |||
17:40 | Dallas Graziani personal foul (Dajuan Harris Jr. draws the foul) | |||
17:39 | KJ Adams Jr. turnover (bad pass) (Rylan Jones steals) | |||
17:35 | Rylan Jones misses three point jump shot | |||
17:33 | KJ Adams Jr. defensive rebound | |||
17:23 | Jayhawks turnover (10-second violation) | |||
17:13 | +2 | Achor Achor makes two point stepback jump shot (Rylan Jones assists) | 7-8 | |
16:44 | +2 | KJ Adams Jr. makes two point cutting dunk (Dajuan Harris Jr. assists) | 7-10 | |
16:32 | Achor Achor misses two point jump shot | |||
16:30 | Dajuan Harris Jr. defensive rebound | |||
16:25 | +3 | Nicolas Timberlake makes three point jump shot (Dajuan Harris Jr. assists) | 7-13 | |
16:15 | Rylan Jones misses three point jump shot | |||
16:13 | Johnny Furphy defensive rebound | |||
16:13 | Jermaine Marshall personal foul (Johnny Furphy draws the foul) | |||
16:08 | +2 | Hunter Dickinson makes two point alley-oop dunk (Nicolas Timberlake assists) | 7-15 | |
15:56 | Garrett Hicks misses two point layup | |||
15:54 | Johnny Furphy defensive rebound | |||
15:45 | Riley Allenspach shooting foul (Hunter Dickinson draws the foul) | |||
15:45 | TV timeout | |||
15:45 | Hunter Dickinson misses regular free throw 1 of 2 | |||
15:45 | +1 | Hunter Dickinson makes regular free throw 2 of 2 | 7-16 | |
15:25 | +3 | Riley Allenspach makes three point jump shot (Rylan Jones assists) | 10-16 | |
15:00 | +2 | Hunter Dickinson makes two point jump shot (Dajuan Harris Jr. assists) | 10-18 | |
14:52 | +3 | A.J. Staton-McCray makes three point pullup jump shot (Rylan Jones assists) | 13-18 | |
14:38 | +2 | Johnny Furphy makes two point driving layup (Nicolas Timberlake assists) | 13-20 | |
14:21 | A.J. Staton-McCray misses two point layup | |||
14:19 | Riley Allenspach offensive rebound | |||
14:19 | Jump ball. Riley Allenspach vs. Johnny Furphy (Bulldogs gains possession) | |||
14:10 | Hunter Dickinson blocks Achor Achor's two point jump shot | |||
14:08 | Hunter Dickinson defensive rebound | |||
14:01 | Johnny Furphy turnover (back court violation) | |||
13:47 | Achor Achor misses three point jump shot | |||
13:45 | KJ Adams Jr. defensive rebound | |||
13:41 | Official timeout | |||
13:20 | +2 | Elmarko Jackson makes two point pullup jump shot | 13-22 | |
12:58 | Achor Achor misses three point jump shot | |||
12:56 | Hunter Dickinson defensive rebound | |||
12:48 | +2 | Hunter Dickinson makes two point cutting layup (KJ Adams Jr. assists) | 13-24 | |
12:18 | Rylan Jones misses two point jump shot | |||
12:16 | Dajuan Harris Jr. defensive rebound | |||
12:05 | Jamari McDowell turnover (bad pass) (Garrett Hicks steals) | |||
11:59 | +3 | Jaden Campbell makes three point jump shot (Garrett Hicks assists) | 16-24 | |
11:52 | TV timeout | |||
11:37 | Riley Allenspach shooting foul (Dajuan Harris Jr. draws the foul) | |||
11:37 | +1 | Dajuan Harris Jr. makes regular free throw 1 of 2 | 16-25 | |
11:37 | +1 | Dajuan Harris Jr. makes regular free throw 2 of 2 | 16-26 | |
11:18 | +3 | Jaden Campbell makes three point jump shot (Josh Holloway assists) | 19-26 | |
10:55 | KJ Adams Jr. misses two point jump shot | |||
10:53 | Josh Holloway defensive rebound | |||
10:42 | Jermaine Marshall turnover (bad pass) (Elmarko Jackson steals) | |||
10:40 | Elmarko Jackson turnover (bad pass) | |||
10:35 | Garrett Hicks misses two point layup | |||
10:33 | Hunter Dickinson defensive rebound | |||
10:26 | Achor Achor shooting foul (Nicolas Timberlake draws the foul) | |||
10:26 | +1 | Nicolas Timberlake makes regular free throw 1 of 2 | 19-27 | |
10:26 | +1 | Nicolas Timberlake makes regular free throw 2 of 2 | 19-28 | |
10:15 | Elmarko Jackson shooting foul (Josh Holloway draws the foul) | |||
10:15 | +1 | Josh Holloway makes regular free throw 1 of 2 | 20-28 | |
10:15 | +1 | Josh Holloway makes regular free throw 2 of 2 | 21-28 | |
10:07 | +2 | Hunter Dickinson makes two point running alley-oop dunk (Nicolas Timberlake assists) | 21-30 | |
9:58 | Nicolas Timberlake shooting foul (Josh Holloway draws the foul) | |||
9:58 | Josh Holloway misses regular free throw 1 of 2 | |||
9:58 | +1 | Josh Holloway makes regular free throw 2 of 2 | 22-30 | |
9:37 | Elmarko Jackson turnover (bad pass) | |||
9:20 | Jermaine Marshall misses two point jump shot | |||
9:18 | KJ Adams Jr. defensive rebound | |||
9:04 | +2 | KJ Adams Jr. makes two point driving floating bank jump shot | 22-32 | |
9:04 | Jermaine Marshall shooting foul (KJ Adams Jr. draws the foul) | |||
9:04 | KJ Adams Jr. misses regular free throw 1 of 1 | |||
9:04 | Hunter Dickinson offensive rebound | |||
8:58 | +2 | KJ Adams Jr. makes two point running alley-oop dunk (Dajuan Harris Jr. assists) | 22-34 | |
8:33 | Hunter Dickinson blocks Achor Achor's two point layup | |||
8:31 | Johnny Furphy defensive rebound | |||
8:27 | +2 | Elmarko Jackson makes two point cutting layup (Johnny Furphy assists) | 22-36 | |
8:26 | Bulldogs 30 second timeout | |||
8:26 | TV timeout | |||
8:01 | Rylan Jones misses two point jump shot | |||
7:59 | Elmarko Jackson defensive rebound | |||
7:37 | Elmarko Jackson misses three point jump shot | |||
7:35 | Johnny Furphy offensive rebound | |||
7:32 | Bulldogs technical foul | |||
7:32 | TV timeout | |||
7:32 | +1 | Dajuan Harris Jr. makes technical free throw 1 of 2 | 22-37 | |
7:32 | +1 | Dajuan Harris Jr. makes technical free throw 2 of 2 | 22-38 | |
7:17 | Elmarko Jackson misses two point jump shot | |||
7:15 | Achor Achor defensive rebound | |||
7:04 | Nathan Johnson misses three point jump shot | |||
7:02 | Johnny Furphy defensive rebound | |||
6:46 | KJ Adams Jr. turnover (bad pass) | |||
6:22 | +2 | Dallas Graziani makes two point stepback jump shot | 24-38 | |
6:11 | Johnny Furphy turnover (lost ball) (Rylan Jones steals) | |||
6:11 | Johnny Furphy personal foul (Rylan Jones draws the foul) | |||
5:59 | Dajuan Harris Jr. kicked ball violation | |||
5:50 | +2 | Achor Achor makes two point driving layup (Dallas Graziani assists) | 26-38 | |
5:44 | Dajuan Harris Jr. offensive foul (Dallas Graziani draws the foul) | |||
5:44 | Dajuan Harris Jr. turnover (offensive foul) | |||
5:41 | Jaden Campbell misses three point jump shot | |||
5:39 | Hunter Dickinson defensive rebound | |||
5:33 | Elmarko Jackson turnover (bad pass) (A.J. Staton-McCray steals) | |||
5:29 | A.J. Staton-McCray misses three point jump shot | |||
5:27 | Hunter Dickinson defensive rebound | |||
5:13 | Elmarko Jackson turnover (bad pass) | |||
5:04 | Hunter Dickinson blocks Achor Achor's two point layup | |||
5:02 | Bulldogs offensive rebound | |||
5:01 | Dallas Graziani turnover (bad pass) | |||
4:49 | Hunter Dickinson misses two point jump shot | |||
4:47 | Rylan Jones defensive rebound | |||
4:40 | +2 | Achor Achor makes two point driving dunk (Rylan Jones assists) | 28-38 | |
4:17 | +2 | KJ Adams Jr. makes two point running alley-oop dunk (Dajuan Harris Jr. assists) | 28-40 | |
4:03 | Jaden Campbell misses two point jump shot | |||
4:01 | Hunter Dickinson defensive rebound | |||
3:59 | Dajuan Harris Jr. offensive foul (A.J. Staton-McCray draws the foul) | |||
3:59 | Dajuan Harris Jr. turnover (offensive foul) | |||
3:59 | TV timeout | |||
3:45 | +2 | Achor Achor makes two point cutting layup (A.J. Staton-McCray assists) | 30-40 | |
3:22 | +2 | Elmarko Jackson makes two point pullup jump shot | 30-42 | |
3:11 | Josh Holloway misses two point layup | |||
3:09 | Hunter Dickinson defensive rebound | |||
2:56 | Hunter Dickinson misses three point jump shot | |||
2:54 | Achor Achor defensive rebound | |||
2:46 | +3 | Achor Achor makes three point jump shot (Garrett Hicks assists) | 33-42 | |
2:43 | Jayhawks 30 second timeout | |||
2:23 | +2 | Hunter Dickinson makes two point turnaround hook shot (Elmarko Jackson assists) | 33-44 | |
1:56 | A.J. Staton-McCray misses three point jump shot | |||
1:54 | Hunter Dickinson defensive rebound | |||
1:48 | Elmarko Jackson misses two point layup | |||
1:46 | Zach Loveday defensive rebound | |||
1:24 | +3 | Garrett Hicks makes three point jump shot (A.J. Staton-McCray assists) | 36-44 | |
1:12 | Zach Loveday shooting foul (Nicolas Timberlake draws the foul) | |||
1:12 | +1 | Nicolas Timberlake makes regular free throw 1 of 2 | 36-45 | |
1:12 | +1 | Nicolas Timberlake makes regular free throw 2 of 2 | 36-46 | |
0:50 | Nathan Johnson misses two point jump shot | |||
0:48 | Hunter Dickinson defensive rebound | |||
0:43 | Hunter Dickinson misses two point layup | |||
0:41 | Nathan Johnson defensive rebound | |||
0:40 | Jamari McDowell personal foul (Nathan Johnson draws the foul) | |||
0:40 | +1 | Nathan Johnson makes regular free throw 1 of 2 | 37-46 | |
0:40 | +1 | Nathan Johnson makes regular free throw 2 of 2 | 38-46 | |
0:23 | +2 | Hunter Dickinson makes two point hook shot (KJ Adams Jr. assists) | 38-48 | |
0:02 | Nathan Johnson misses three point jump shot | |||
0:01 | Elmarko Jackson defensive rebound | |||
0:00 | End of period |