It didn’t take long for someone to shake up the college basketball landscape.
The No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks knocked off No. 1 Duke, 77-75, in the Champions Classic on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden in New York, thanks to senior Frank Mason III’s game-winning jumper with 1.8 seconds remaining on the clock.
“The play was to (isolate) me, and my teammates did a good job of spacing the floor,” Mason told The Associated Press after the game. “It felt good when it left my hand.”
Mason finished with a team-high 21 points, which followed up his career-high 30-points performance in a loss to No. 6 Indiana in the season opener.
“He’s made a lot of big plays for us,” Kansas coach Bill Self said of Mason. “I don’t know if he’s made any game winners, but he’s made plays to put us in overtime. Yeah, he’s a stud.”
Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski was impressed by Mason’s poise, too.
“Mason made a big-time play, and it was well-guarded,” Krzyzewski said. “He just made a big-time play.”
Duke was playing without star freshmen Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum for the third consecutive game to begin the season. Sophomore Luke Kennard scored a game-high 22 points for the Blue Devils.
Thumbnail photo via Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images
