Kansas Clinches Big 12 Title with Dramatic OT Win Over Texas

“Kansas doesn’t lose on senior day.”

This sentence – and a streak of 38 straight Senior Day wins – was put to the test against Texas. It was the Jayhawks’ fourth game in eight days, its national player of the year candidate didn’t make a field goal in regulation, and seemingly easy baskets were hard to come by.

But Kansas found a way, as it always does, and won the game in overtime 70-63. And like other repeated successes, the Jayhawks clinched at least a share of the Big 12 title.

The shooting woes began from the jump, but it was Jalen Wilson who kept the Jayhawks in it by knocking down threes and scoring from the block. Courtney Ramsey was on fire early for Texas, with nine of his 18 points coming early in the first half, but turnovers by the Longhorns and free throws by the Jayhawks kept it close. At the half, Kansas was shooting just 31.3% from the field and 38.5% from 3 (5-13) – while Texas was 5-8 from three – and yet had a two-point lead.

The second half was as back-and-forth as it can get. There were a ton of missed shots. Like, a lot of missed shots. At one point, Texas and KU were a combined two of 15 from the field. But it was David McCormack drawing fouls and dominating down low (when he didn’t miss from two feet away – but he gets a pass, and we’ll get to why later) and Harris being a menace on defense.

The Jayhawks had a six-point lead late but two Texas threes tied the game and the 16,300 inside Allen Fieldhouse held its collective breath as Kansas had the ball in a 57-57 game with 15.8 seconds left. After what felt like as many timeouts as seconds left, Jalen Coleman-Lands heaved a shot that banked in but was 0.1 seconds too late.

Overtime featured more great defense and free-throws. Agbaji hit his first field goal with 2:30 to tie the game at 61. McCormack hit two free throws, then Wilson forced a jump ball on an incredible play at the rim and hit two free throws. Texas free throws cut the KU lead to two but a scrambled press break led to Agbaji finding McCormack for a huge dunk 40 seconds left. And that would seal it.

McCormack led all scorers with 22 points (and 10-10 from the line) and 10 rebounds, and as Bill Self would say when introducing McCormack for his senior speech, “He put us on his back and won us a championship. Wilson put in 17 points and 13 rebounds and Braun also finished with a double double at 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Agbaji scored eight points despite only one field goal.

Despite shooting just 31% from the field (18-58), KU won the game with defense, ending with eight steals and nine blocks. The performance moved Kansas up from 40th nationally to 31st in defensive efficiency in KenPom after the game.

Now, Kansas heads to Kansas City for the Big 12 Tournament.