LAWRENCE, Kan. — Hunter Dickinson had 20 points and 10 rebounds for No. 1 Kansas, which blew a 20-point first-half lead against No. 9 North Carolina before holding on for a 92-89 victory when the Tar Heels’ Elliot Cadeau missed a 3-pointer as time expired Friday night.
Zeke Mayo had 21 points and KJ Adams Jr had 14 for the Jayhawks (2-0), who led 49-29 in the first half but trailed 87-83 with 3:28 to go. Dickinson and Mayo responded with a series of baskets to tie the game at 89, and Dickinson’s basket with 1:15 to go and free throw with 12 seconds remaining made it a three-point game.
The Tar Heels (1-1) raced up the floor, but Cadeau’s 3 from the wing was contested and never had a chance.
North Carolina stayed alive by getting to the basket and drawing fouls, going 28 of 31 from the line, but Kansas ultimately avoided its biggest blown-lead loss in school history.
Seth Trimble scored 19 points to lead North Carolina. RJ Davis had 16 points and Cadeau finished with 12.
It was just the 13th matchup of the Tar Heels and Jayhawks, and first since Kansas rallied from a 16-point deficit to win the 2022 national championship. The only other time they have met on campus was in 1960, when Larry Brown — who would later coach the Jayhawks to the 1988 title — helped the Tar Heels win in Allen Fieldhouse.
Kansas made a repeat seem unlikely when it built a 20-point first-half lead.
But the Tar Heels trimmed the deficit in the second half, and Jae’Lyn Withers‘ 3-pointer gave them an 80-79 lead with 7:06 to go. The two bluebloods wrestled it away several other times before Kansas finally put the game away.