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Kansas blows out upset-minded Northeastern

NCAA Northeastern Kansas Basketball

Kansas guard Devon Dotson, center drives to the hoop against Northeastern guards Bolden Brace, left, and Donnell Gresham Jr. (22) in the first half during a first round men’s college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 21, 2019, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Jeff Swinger)

AP

Predicting the demise of Kansas came too soon.

The No. 4-seed Jayhawks looked every bit the part of a blueblood on Thursday afternoon, and they made everyone that predicted a Northeastern upset look like a fool.

Myself included.

Dedric Lawson scored 25 points and grabbed 11 boards and Devon Dotson chipped in with 18 points and four boards as Kansas rolled to an 87-53 with over the champions of the CAA. Northeastern trailed by 12 at the half and quickly saw that deficit balloon to 20 early in the second half. The Huskies never made it interesting from there.

On paper, this was an upset pick that made sense. Northeastern took -- and made -- a lot of threes. They were an above-average defensive team. They didn’t turn the ball over. They controlled tempo. They did it all season long, and they were taking on a Kansas team that starts four freshmen and that had spent the second half of the season playing like a team that didn’t know what it takes to win away from Phog Allen Fieldhouse.

On Thursday, Northeastern shot 6-for-28 from three. They had absolutely no answer for Lawson in the pair or for Dotson in transition. The Huskies didn’t control tempo and they didn’t keep the Jayhawks off the offensive glass.

At the end of the day, Kansas -- no matter how many issues they had throughout the regular season -- was simply the more talented team.

And it showed on Thursday.