Thursday night, 2 of the top 25 squads met in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, No. 25 Oklahoma and No. 11 Kansas. Oklahoma advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Iowa State 79-73 on Wednesday night. OU and Kansas met twice in the regular season, with each time winning once.
Kansas came into the Big 12 tournament hot, winning 7 of their last 8 games. On the other hand, Oklahoma Oklahoma was cold, winning only 2 of their last 6 games; both wins came against Iowa State. Kansas would look to stay hot, and OU would look to create momentum after their first-round victory.
First half
The first half started slow for both teams. Big game jitters might have been a factor but neither team could get much to fall in the first fewa minutes. Kansas would snap out its funk, OU wouldn’t. OU struggled in the first half making just 8 of their 20 field goal attempts. They also turned the ball over 13 times. This can be attributed to great first half defense from Kansas. 8 of OU’s turnovers were Kansas steals. Kansas would hold OU to just 15 points in the first half.
While OU struggled shooting, Kansas had a hot hand in the first half. Kansas would make 48.5% of their first-half shots. All the turnovers they forced helped create easy offensive opportunities. The two teams were dead even in the rebounding department, both recording 15 in the first. Kansas would hold a 35-15 lead at halftime between their stifling defense and the hot shooting.
Marcus Garrett was Kansas’ leading scorer at the half with 9 points. OU’s Brady Manek would score nearly half of their points in the first with 7 of their 15. If OU wanted to make a comeback in the second half, they would need to take better care of the ball and hope to improve their shooting stroke.
Second half
The second half was much more competitive than the first. OU would make adjustments at the half and mount a comeback to make the quarterfinal game competitive. They would turn the ball over just 6 times in the second half. They also shot much better from the field, making 17 of their 29 shots in the second half.
OU would find themselves down just 3 points with 2:40 left in the game. Unfortunately for OU, Kansas big man Mitch Lightfoot would make a layup to extend the lead to 5, and Kansas would never look back. OU never stopped fighting, but they would fall just short of the comeback; Kansas would win by a score of 69-62.
A big game from Ochai Abaji would help Kansas get the win. Abaji posted a career-high with 26 points, on 9-14 shooting and 4-8 from the three-point range. Marcus Garrett built off his solid first half, finishing with 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Mitch Lightfoot would add 11 points off the Kansas bench.
Although OU came up short, they saw big games from Brady Manek, Austin Reaves and Elijah Harkless. Manek would finish the game with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Reaves scored 19 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Harkless scored 14 points and recorded 7 rebounds.
With the win, Kansas advanced to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals where they will face Texas on Friday.
