Lawrence, Kansas – The South Dakota State Jackrabbits couldn’t cover the spread or three-point shots against the No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks as they were routed 98-64.

The 21.5-point Las Vegas favorite Jayhawks dismantled the Jacks in every aspect of the game. Kansas connected on 61 percent of their shots, the Jacks needed their offense to answer, but it just couldn’t click.

SDSU shot a putrid 33 percent from the field, connecting on 21 shots on 64 attempts. Kansas attempted one less three-pointer than the Jacks, but made seven more.

Red-shirt junior Mike Daum led the offensive charge for the Jacks, recording his 66th double-digit game of his career. Daum connected on just seven of his 17 attempts and missed numerous open looks.

“They came out and definitely were the more aggressive team,” Daum said.

Indeed, they were, Kansas jumped out to a 20-4 lead with 4:50 played in the first half.

Kansas head coach Bill Self saw Daum as the main threat from the Jacks.

“We were fortunate tonight, he had some good looks and he just didn’t make them,” Self said.

Only two other Jacks hit double digits. David Jenkins Jr. had ten points and Tevin King contributed 12 points.

As good as Daum was on the offensive side of things, he was ineffective on the defensive side of the ball, allowing Udoka Azubuike, Kansas freshman center, dominate in the paint as he had 17 points, missing just one field goal. Azubuike also contributed three dunks that lit a spark in the 16,400 fans in the Allen Fieldhouse crowd and five rebounds.

“[We] just got to keep him off the boards and eliminate the high-energy plays,” Daum said in the post game conference.

While they weren’t able to do that, they weren’t able to contain the other Jayhawks either.

It was a host of Jayhawks that got in on the fun. Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk led the offensive charge for the Jayhawks with 27 points on five three pointers and managed to grab five rebounds. Lagerald Vick also helped the Jayhawks dismantle the Jacks with 22 points and seven rebounds. Malik Newman had 13 points for Kansas.

Coming into the week, SDSU head coach T.J Otzelberger put an emphasis on not getting too overworked about playing the no. 4 team in the country at one of the most prolific stadiums in the United States.

“That was our mindset and what we sought to do,” Otzelberger said. “To be honest, I don’t think we did a very good job of it.”

There was a bit of a win in the statistics, as the Jacks outrebounded the Jayhawks 41-32. But don’t expect for the Jacks to take that too seriously.

“There are no moral victories,” Otzelberger said.  

Up next, the Jacks will travel to the Cayman Islands Classics to take on the Wyoming Cowboys. It will be a three game tournament.

“[It’s] a learning opportunity for our guys,” Otzelberger said. “You don’t dump two in a row.”