Kansas City Cruises to 80-58 Victory on Senior Night

Saturday, February 29

Kansas City, MO

7:00 PM

Kansas City

15-14,7-7WAC

Chicago State

4-25,0-14WAC

Chicago St.

Kansas City

Kansas City Cruises to 80-58 Victory on Senior Night

2/29/2020 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Box

Roos use 31-14 first-half scoring run to crush the Cougars

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City used a 31-14 first-half scoring run to sprint away from Chicago State (4-25, 0-14) and eventually earn an 80-58 men's basketball victory tonight in front of a sell-out crowd at the Swinney Center. The Roos (15-14, 7-7) honored their four seniors tonight in the final regular-season home game and won for the third-straight time overall.

The four seniors – Javan White, Rob Whitfield, Jahshire Hardnett and Jordan Giles – combined for 41 points, 16 rebounds and six assists. White led the Roos with 16 points, followed by junior Brandon McKissic's 13 and Whitfield's 11.

The Roos are on a hot streak winning six-of-nine games overall and will take that confidence on the road next week. They conclude the regular season starting at Utah Valley on March 5 and Seattle U on March 7.

With the victory, the Roos move to an even 7-7 in the conference. That mark puts Kansas City in a tie for fourth place with Seattle U, after the Redhawks lost in overtime late last night at California Baptist. By winning out, there is a chance the Roos could move up to as high as No. 2 for the upcoming WAC Tournament March 12-14.

Overall, the key to the game may have been the turnovers. Kansas City forced 19 Cougar turnovers and conversely, only gave the ball up eight times. The 19 turnovers led to 31 points by the Roos.

"I thought the effort level was high," said head coach Billy Donlon. "We forced 19 turnovers and that shows we played hard. And then to only have eight turnovers in that kind of game where they are switching defenses and pressing… that's a credit to our guys."

At one point, Kansas City trailed 17-12 with 11 minutes left in the first half. Rob Whitfield's three sparked a game-deciding 31-14 run and from there, the Roos collected a 43-31 halftime lead. Not only was the scoring spurt impressive, but Marvin Nesbitt Jr.'s dunk on a put-back with one second left was the icing on the cake.

"I thought it was very important to go in at half with a double-digit lead, but more important was Marvin Nesbitt Jr.," said Donlon. "He got the dunk – the exclamation point – and I thought that really took the weight off of our guys when Marvin made that play."

Whitfield had 10 points in the first 20 minutes and the Roos shot 54 percent (14-of-26). Chicago State did their best to hang tough shooting 71.4 percent (10-of-14) from the floor in the first half, but committed 13 turnovers that the Roos converted into 22 points.

Four different Kansas City players scored in the first two minutes of the second half helping the hosts take control 49-32. Chicago State never could break the confidence of the Roos as Kansas City held at least a 12-point advantage the rest of the game.

A White dunk at the 5:31 mark handed the Roos their biggest lead at 72-47. Moments later, coach Donlon put in subs to replace the four seniors and the Swinney Center crowd rose to their feet in applause.

Nesbitt Jr., finished his night with nine points and five boards. Freshman Josiah Allick also chipped in nine points. Giles and Hardnett each recorded seven points. White, who is in the top five in the WAC in rebounding, grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.

Kansas City shot 50 percent from the field, marking the fourth time in the last eight games the team hit that stat.

Chicago State's Ke'Sean Davis gathered a game-high 18 points and Andrew Lewis had 13 points. After hitting over 70 percent of their shot attempts in the first half, the Cougars finished at a 48.6 percent (17-of-35) clip overall.

Quick Hitters

The Roos continued to dominate in the series with Chicago State. The victory sends the Roos to six-straight home wins in the series and improve their record to 36-12 overall. Also, Kansas City is now 11-1 in the last 12 meetings.
The eight turnovers is one shy of a season-low.
The 22-point margin of victory is the most by Kansas City against at a WAC opponent at home since a 30-point blowout of Seattle U (102-72) on Feb. 11, 2017.
Javan White's 16 points were the most since a 17-point effort on Jan. 2 vs Seattle U.
Jordan Giles, with seven points tonight, puts him at 922 career points, which is No. 16 on the school's all-time scoring chart. Also, his 118 games played in a KC uniform is now tied for the second most ever.
Rob Whitfield moves into the top 30 on the career scoring list as he now has scored 642 points.
The 60-point mark is an important one for the Kansas City scoring defense. The Roos move to 9-0 this year when holding the opposition to 60-or-fewer points. In the 15 wins this year, the scoring defense has limited opponents to score just 59.7 points.
Kansas City ends their home portion of the schedule with a 9-4 record.