For a while, Kansas was in serious trouble of becoming Saturday's first big NCAA men's tournament upset story.
No. 14 seed Eastern Washington jumped out to a 9-0 lead and rode its white-hot shooting to a 46-38 halftime edge. But as EWU's shooting cooled off, Kansas heated up, riding a 14-3 second half run to take a 64-63 lead, its first of the second half. The No. 4 seed Jayhawks didn't look back en route to a 93-84 win to fend off the first-round upset bid.
McCormack returns from COVID to lead Kansas rally
They got a big boost from All-Big 12 forward David McCormack, who played in his first game since a bout with COVID-19 knocked him and Kansas out of the Big 12 tournament.