Tre White scored a career-high 30 points while Tyran Stokes added 23 points and 10 rebounds as No. 15 Kansas made a statement with an 89-69 victory over No. 24 Kentucky in a neutral-court game at Chicago on Tuesday.
Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 12 points as the Jayhawks (3-0) shot 46.4% from the floor and cruised to the victory in a matchup of the two winningest programs in college basketball history.
Kansas pushed its advantage past 20 points with 15 minutes remaining and improved to 7-2 against Kentucky going back to the 2015-16 season. The Jayhawks scored 22 points off 15 Wildcats turnovers while Kentucky failed to score off 10 Kansas giveaways.
Zoom Diallo put up 24 points and Malachi Moreno added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Kentucky (2-1), which shot 45.8% from the floor but 19% (4 of 21) from 3-point range. Wildcats sharpshooter Milan Momcilovic was held to five points, while going 2 of 7 from the floor and 1 of 3 from 3-point range.
The game got off to an energetic start four minutes after the opening tip when Kansas’ Taylen Kinney and Kentucky’s Ousmane N’Diaye were each assessed a technical foul for a shoving incident under the Kentucky basket.
The teams traded the lead over the first eight minutes before Kansas grabbed a 20-17 edge with 11:11 left in the first half on a Stokes 3-pointer and never trailed again. The Jayhawks used a 16-6 run to take a 33-23 lead.
Kansas led 46-36 at the half behind 13 points from Stokes. N’Diaye played four minutes before the break because he picked up three fouls, and Moreno played seven minutes, as he had two fouls.
The Jayhawks led by as many as 22 points on two occasions early in the second half and went up by 23 down the stretch as they coasted home with the victory.
Momcilovic, who led Division I last season by shooting 48.7% from 3-point range while at Iowa State, sank his lone 3-pointer of the night with 6:53 remaining.