KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The top four seeds advanced to Friday’s Big 12 tournament semifinals, with third-seeded Arizona knocking off No. 6 seed Kansas 88-77 in the final game of action Thursday night.
The Wildcats (21-11) will face second-seeded and No. 9-ranked Texas Tech (25-7) on Friday night.
The Red Raiders were impressive in the first half of their 76-74 victory over Baylor in their quarterfinal contest on Thursday.
JT Toppin had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Texas Tech, which almost gave up the lead in the final minute after missing its final 10 field-goal attempts. VJ Edgecombe couldn’t sink his game-tying attempt at the buzzer.
Texas Tech also got 14 from Darrion Williams and 12 each from Elijah Hawkins and Kerwin Walton.
“You don’t get pretty points for winning. You just win and find a way to move on,” Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland said. “Give Baylor a lot of credit, because I thought their physicality caused problems in the second half, and we got a little stagnant.”
Now McCasland will turn his attention to the Wildcats.
“We need Federiko (Federiko) to play,” he said. “With all the guards that played for Baylor, it was difficult. So that’ll be a huge help for us tomorrow. (Arizona) plays more size, and that’ll help with some rotations that we had a difficulty with tonight.”
The Red Raiders shot just 19.4 percent from the field in the second half, including 3-of-15 from 3-point range.
In the second semifinal, Arizona took a one-point lead and finished with an 18-8 run. The Wildcats did it with a mix of inside and outside points.
“We make no bones about it,” Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said. “We don’t mind playing games in the paint. It’s kind of how we’re built. And we like throwing in a few 3s here and there too.”
Henri Veesaar and KJ Lewis each had 19 points to lead Arizona, which also got 16 points from Trey Townsend and 11 from Caleb Love. Veesaar and Lewis both came off the bench, helping Arizona claim a 45-13 advantage in bench points.
Kansas came out of halftime with a run, tying the game at 50 on a 3-pointer by Zeke Mayo. Neither team was able to lead by more than three points until Veesaar stretched it to four with a three-point play with 5:02 left.
Lloyd said he knows Veesar and Lewis will have their hands full with Big 12 Player of the Year Toppin and fellow forward Williams.
“I think (Texas Tech) is one of the most disciplined teams in the country,” Lloyd said. “They know what they want to do, and they’re able to execute it with a lot of certainty. When they make a plan, they have a conviction to stick with it, and it’s really impressive.
“Obviously, they’re playing with great confidence of shooting the ball well. They have two guys that are problems, their big guys. They’ve been a great team, and they’re having a great season.”
–David Smale, Field Level Media
