For the second time in three seasons, the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ men\u2019s basketball team delivered a court-storming-worthy statement to open Big 12 Conference play with an upset of nationally ranked Kansas at Addition Financial Arena.<\/p>\n
Tied at 72 with less than a minute remaining in Saturday\u2019s game, junior forward Jordan Burks drilled a 3-pointer in front of the Knights\u2019 bench that ignited Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ on to its 81-75 victory over the No. 17 Jayhawks.<\/p>\n
As the buzzer sounded, droves of the more the 8,000 in attendance stormed the court in celebration \u2014 a nearly identical scene to the Knights\u2019 65-60 win over then-No. 3 Kansas in the first Big 12 Conference game in school history on Jan. 10, 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe beat a good basketball team tonight \u2013 the tradition, the coaching, the players they have. Just really proud of our players for playing for 40 minutes,\u201d Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ head coach Johnny Dawkins says. \u201cThey showed a lot of heart throughout the game because Kansas is [terrific]. I thought our guys did a great job of sustaining effort on the court. I thought we finished strong at the end of the game when Kansas made a really good run to tie the ball game up. Those were things we were talking about as a team prior to us going away for Christmas break; how we have to play in conference, and I thought our guys it reflected that today in how we finished the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ is now ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since 2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This year\u2019s squad now improves to 12-1, marking the program\u2019s best start under Dawkins since he took the helm in 2016. On Monday, Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ cracked into the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2019, debuting at No. 25 in the Week 9 poll.<\/p>\n
The ranking marks just the sixth week Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ has appeared in the AP Top 25 since the program\u2019s inception in 1969 and the second time under Dawkins.<\/p>\n