In a matchup that featured the two top-ranked recruits in this year's freshman class, No. 5 Kansas outlasted No. 4 Duke 94-83 at the United Center in Chicago. Parker led the Blue Devils with 27 points and nine rebounds.
"He's the best player in the country to me," Duke point guard Quinn Cook said of his freshman teammate. "He does it all every day in practice. He's done it in all our games, and we're used to it. He's a big-time player."
"We should have been up by more at halftime.... The times that you do play better, it has to reflect in the score," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "You don't get style points and gold stars or anything like that. You have to put points on the board."
"He came to me the whole game and said, 'Let me guard Jabari. I want to guard Jabari,'" Self said. "About midway through the second half, around the 13-minute mark, I didn't put him on Jabari—he just went to guard him."
"I'm a freshman. I'm playing a big role for our team, and there's no excuses not to show up for my family," Parker said. "Those are my guys, my brothers, and I need to go to war with them."
"We were getting anything we wanted on offense," Sulaimon said. "It really started on defense, and 94 points—that's unacceptable."
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