Local sports briefs: KU football lands in-state recruits Jayden Russell, Mason Fairchild; KU women top Grambling

LOCAL AND STATE

KU football lands in-state recruits

New Kansas football coach Les Miles' stated goal of competing for area high school recruits picked up steam Sunday with the oral commitments of two Kansas prospects.

Aquinas' Jayden Russell, the top-ranked cornerback in Kansas and the state's highest-ranked uncommitted recruit entering the weekend, and Andale's Mason Fairchild both announced their oral commitments to Miles and the Jayhawks, who tripled their Class of 2019 size with Sunday's haul.

A 6-foot-2, 180-pounder out of Overland Park, Russell is a three-star player according to recruiting outlet Rivals.com, which lists him as the state's No. 8-ranked player in the upcoming class. He chose KU over offers from Kansas State, Iowa State, Duke and Boston College, among others. Fairchild, a 6-5, 250-pound two-star athlete, chose KU over an offer from South Dakota and may project out as a future tight end for the Jayhawks.

Oral commitments are unbinding. Recruits' first opportunity to sign with their college programs in the early period, which this year runs from Dec. 19-21.

KU women's basketball tops Grambling

Senior guard Christalah Lyons scored 18 points and the Kansas women defeated Grambling 76-45 on Sunday in Lawrence.

The Jayhawks (7-1) rode a 25-point second quarter into a 39-17 halftime lead against the Tigers (1-5). Jessica Washington scored 16 points and Kylee Kopatich added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Jayhawks.

Shakayla Hill led Grambling with 12 points on just 3-for-15 shooting and added eight rebounds.

The Jayhawks will return to action at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 19 against Washington State at the Duel in the Desert in Las Vegas.

Snyder makes first public comments since retiring

Even in retirement, Bill Snyder prefers to divert attention away from himself in a public setting.

Snyder spoke for nearly 30 minutes at Kansas State’s football banquet on Sunday and he spent the vast majority of that time thanking his former players, support staff and family for all they did for him during his legendary 27-year coaching career with the Wildcats.

K-State honored Snyder with videos and the crowd gave him several standing ovations, but he seemed more focused on everyone else in the building.

Snyder praised K-State’s senior class, raved about equipment room employees who work behind the scenes and closed with a special thank you to his family.

“You have been truly, truly special,” Snyder told the crowd at the end of his speech. “There are no words that I could provide you right now that would adequately surmise my feelings, my passion and my love for each and every one of you.”

COLLEGE

Texas beats Edwards, Purdue

Purdue's Carsen Edwards was pouring in points with shot after shot. Somebody had to match him if Texas was going to find a way to end a frustrating early-season losing streak.

Matt Coleman III delivered for the Longhorns, landing just enough late counterpunches to send the Longhorns to a 72-68 victory Sunday that snapped a three-game skid.

Coleman scored 22 points, none bigger than a late burst that scored six of Texas' final eight points and ensured the Longhorns held the slimmest of leads in the final minutes. Coleman's third 3-pointer pushed Texas to a 67-62 lead and his soft floater in the lane with 43 seconds left kept Texas ahead by four. He then made one of two free throws with 21 seconds left.

Iowa State men rout Southern

Freshman Tyrese Haliburton has been a fixture in Iowa State's lineup all season, quietly filling up the stat sheet while his high-scoring teammates grabbed the spotlight.

There wasn't anything quiet about what Haliburton did on a record-setting Sunday night.

Haliburton dished out 17 assists to break an Iowa State mark that had lasted 44 years, Marial Shayok had 20 of his 26 points in the second half and the Cyclones cruised past Southern 101-65.

Haliburton also scored 15 points for the Cyclones (8-2), who responded to Thursday's 98-84 loss at No. 18 Iowa by shooting 70.2 percent from the field — its best since hitting 74.4 percent against Georgia in the 2004 NIT.

PROFESSIONAL

Source: Sunday night baseball games to be earlier

Baseball players may get a little more sleep when traveling after Sunday night games next year.

ESPN plans to announce it will move up the starting time of the nationally televised game by one hour, with the first pitch planned for shortly after 6 p.m. CDT.

The network intends to make the announcement on Monday at the winter meetings, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because the announcement had not yet been made.