SAN DIEGO, California — Kansas basketball’s round of 64 matchup against California Baptist in the men’s NCAA tournament on Friday saw the Jayhawks win 68-60.
KU (24-10), the No. 4 seed in the East Region, never trailed during this matchup in San Diego, California. However, California Baptist (25-9), the No. 13 seed, pushed the Jayhawks to the brink with an epic comeback attempt in the second half in front of a raucous crowd inside Viejas Arena. Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, who struggled initially to hit shots, ended up finishing the game with 28 points to lead all scorers.
It wasn’t just Peterson who couldn’t get shots to fall early on, as both teams had horrendous starts trying to hit shots from the field. It was KU that was able to overcome that by game’s end, despite that much-improved effort offensively from California Baptist in the second half that saw it out-score KU by 12 points after halftime. Dominique Daniels Jr. led that charge for the Lancers, as he finished with 25 points in the defeat and served as a magnet for emotion for the crowd.
Kansas will now look ahead to a game Sunday against No. 5 seed St. John’s, with the winner earning a trip to the Sweet 16. Jayhawks coach Bill Self and St. John’s coach Rick Pitino will match up in a contest that’ll feature two of the best head coaches the college game has to offer.
St. John’s also has a player in senior Zuby Ejiofor, who originally started his college career at KU before transferring to St. John’s after his freshman season.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball survives, beats California Baptist in March Madness