Ochai Agbaji had 22 points. Two of those were scored by Ochai Agbaji on a jaw-dropping allyoop dunk in the second half. Sixth-ranked Kansas won 75-62 over TCU and advanced to the Big 12 Tournament title match.
Mitch Lightfoot added 15 more points, while Remy Martin scored 10 as the Jayhawks reached Texas Tech or Oklahoma.
The Jayhawks (27-6), will be seeking their 16th conference title and 12th in Big 12 era.
Chuck O’Bannon scored 15 points to lead TCU (20-12). Mike Miles recovered from a shooting slump and added 14.
Two tough games were played last week by the Jayhawks and Horned Frogs thanks to a COVID-19 rescheduling. They split them with each team winning at their home. However, the Jayhawks needed all of Allen Fieldhouse magic to win with a 72-68 victory in Lawrence.
Bill Self, Jayhawks coach, spent around 10 minutes lamenting TCU’s myriad matchup problems.
In the Big 12 semifinals, there were no matchup or other problems.
TCU scored the first four points of the game, but Kansas pulled ahead quickly at 10-9 thanks to Braun’s 3-pointer. This was the beginning of a 11-0 run that caused Jamie Dixon, Horned Frogs coach to call timeout.
Kansas had six- and five-point spurts later in the half to increase its lead. The Jayhawks cruised into their locker room with a 44-30 advantage.
Kansas was the dominant team, with three shots-clock violations during the first half.
After the TCU narrowed the gap down to 54-44 with 16 minutes left, the Jayhawks forced another. Eight points were scored by the Jayhawks, Martin scoring two after a violation of the shot clock. Self’s team was able to cruise through the final 10 minute and into the title match.
BIG PICTURE
TCU won its fifth season of 20 wins under Dixon, beating No. 60 65. TCU defeated 22 Texas in the quarterfinals. This win almost assured the Horned Frogs their at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. This would be their first appearance since 2017-18, when they broke a 20-year drought and were defeated in the first round.
Kansas committed six turnovers in the game. TCU had 18 and the Jayhawks converted them into a 23-4 advantage in turnovers. This was more important than the difference in game outcome.
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will be making their 15th appearance at the Big 12 title match against either the Red Raiders or the Sooners.
