OKLAHOMA CITY — For a while, it appeared Lehigh was going to take down the biggest Goliath of them all.
Top-seeded Kansas hung in and survived a scare before pulling away for a 90-74 win over scrappy Lehigh and avoiding a monumental upset in the Midwest Regional Thursday night.
Marcus Morris had 26 points and Sherron Collins added 18 as Kansas (33-2) fell into its season-long pattern of playing in spurts, giving No. 16 seed Lehigh (22-11) hope of making college basketball history.
The Jayhawks led by just six in the first half and didn’t pull away until midway through the second to keep from becoming the biggest team to be crossed off the brackets on a wild opening day of the NCAA tournament.
Tyrel Reed added four big 3-pointers for Kansas as it moves on to face gritty Northern Iowa in a second-round game that suddenly seems much more daunting.
Lehigh made its fourth NCAA appearance a memorable one, stretching the nation’s No. 1 team to the brink of disaster.
Freshman C.J. McCollum showed no fear against the mighty Jayhawks, scoring 26 points, and Zahir Carrington added 17.
The Jayhawks weren’t just facing Lehigh. They were up against fate, too.
Five years ago, Kansas suffered one of the most embarrassing losses in the program’s storied history, to Bucknell in the opening round.
