Big 12 Tournament live updates: Kansas Jayhawks win men’s title, Ochai Agbaji is MVP
The men’s Big 12 Tournament concluded Saturday at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City with the KU-Texas Tech championship game.
The final of the women’s tournament at Municipal Auditorium was Sunday and Texas beat Baylor in an upset.
Agbaji leads all-tournament team (8:06 p.m. Saturday)
The individual honors continue to stack up for Ochai Agbaji.
The Kansas senior was named the most outstanding player of the Big 12 Tournament, after his 16 points helped the Jayhawks to a 74-65 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday at T-Mobile Center.
Ogbaji became the fifth player to follow a Big 12 Player of the Year season with the tournament award. He joins Iowa State’s Marcus Fizer (2000), Oklahoma State’s Tony Allen (2004), Texas’ Kevin Durant (2007) and Kansas’ Marcus Morris (2011) in pulling off the double.
Blair Kerkhoff
KU downs Tech for title, No. 1 seed likely locked up (7:29 p.m. Saturday)
The No. 6-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, who tied Baylor for the Big 12 regular-season title, completed a three-game sweep of West Virginia, TCU and Texas Tech on Saturday to win the league’s postseason tournament at T-Mobile Center.
David McCormack scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while four other Jayhawks scored in double figures as KU (28-6) downed the No. 14-ranked Red Raiders, 74-65, and likely emerged as the league’s top representative entering Selection Sunday.
Gary Bedore
Women could join men at T-Mobile (6:56 p.m. Saturday)
The Big 12 women’s basketball tournament could be on the move ... down the street.
League commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the event could move to T-Mobile Center, site of the men’s tournament. The women would play on dates before the men, with the championship game on Tuesday, the day before the men begin.
“Likely the year after (next),” Bowlsby said in text message to The Star.
Blair Kerkhoff
Watch this winning shot (2:56 p.m. Saturday)
NaLyssa Smith had a big game for No. 4 Baylor in the first semifinal of the women’s Big 12 Tournament on Saturday at Municipal Auditorium, scoring a career-high 37 points as the Bears routed No. 21 Oklahoma 91-76.
Top seed Baylor (27-6) advanced to Sunday’s 1 p.m. title game against third-seeded Texas, an 82-73 overtime winner over No. 2 seed Iowa State.
But Smith’s father and brother, Rodney Sr. and Rodney Jr., combined to win the halftime shootout and a $6,600 prize. The elder Smith made a halfcourt shot to win it.
The Associated Press
Big 12 women’s attendance milestone (2:05 p.m. Saturday)
Friday’s attendance of 8,805 for the four Big 12 women’s quarterfinal games at Municipal Auditorium was the highest since 2013.
“We fought hard to get the women’s tournament back to Kansas City and it’s gratifying to see such strong attendance the first year we’ve had full capacity at Municipal Auditorium,” said Kathy Nelson, president and CEO of the Kansas City Sports Commission and Visit KC. “As we’ve seen with the success of the KC Current, demand for women’s sports continues to gain momentum, both in Kansas City and around the country.”
KU-Tech preview (5 a.m. Saturday)
Jesse Newell predicts tonight’s Big 12 men’s championship game is a big-game setup for Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji, as Texas Tech is more concerned defensively with its principles than it is individual players.
KU has advanced to the conference tournament finals for the 15th time in Big 12 history and 23rd time overall.
The game tips off at 5 p.m. and will air on ESPN.
Jesse Newell, Gary Bedore
Self on Cuonzo Martin out at Mizzou (9:20 p.m. Friday)
KU’s Bill Self found out after his team’s win over TCU that Cuonzo Martin was out as Missouri Tigers coach. This news came a day after Kansas State’s Bruce Weber resigned.
“That’s two coaches in the last two days that’s basically been our biggest rivals,” Self said Friday night. “I personally don’t like that.
“I feel bad for Cuonzo. ... I think he’s a really good coach. I think he’s a better guy. I’m sure he will land on his feet.”
Lila Bromberg
Dunk of the tournament? (8:30 p.m. Friday)
During KU’s victory Friday night, Ochai Agbaji dropped the jaws of fans and his teammates when he grabbed an inbounds pass from underneath the basket and slammed it over TCU’s Micah Peaby.
KU advances to title game (8:01 p.m. Friday)
Thanks in large part to backup forward Mitch Lightfoot, No. 6-ranked Kansas has advanced to the finals of the Big 12 Tournament for the first time since 2019 when the Jayhawks defeated Texas and West Virginia and lost to Iowa State in the title game.
The Jayhawks, who claimed their last postseason league crown in 2018, followed an quarterfinal rout of West Virginia with a 75-62 victory over TCU in Friday’s semifinals at T-Mobile Center.
Lightfoot, KU’s sixth-year forward from Gilbert, Arizona (he was born in Kansas City) on Friday scored 15 points for KU (27-6), which will play either Oklahoma or Texas Tech in Saturday’s 5 p.m. final.
Baylor pitches first-quarter shutout (3:23 p.m. Friday)
Top-seeded Baylor shut out Oklahoma State into the second quarter, taking a 23-0 lead, and the No. 4 ranked Bears won 76-36 in Friday’s second women’s quarterfinal. The Bears will play Oklahoma at noon Saturday in the semifinals. Iowa State will play Texas in the other semifinal after the Cyclones beat West Virginia and the Longhorns beat Kansas State.
KU women lose to Oklahoma (12:53 p.m. Friday)
The fifth-seeded Kansas women’s basketball team couldn’t bottle up a strong start, falling to fourth-seeded (and 21st-ranked) Oklahoma 80-68 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament on Friday afternoon at Municipal Auditorium.
Now, the Jayhawks will await their name being called on Selection Sunday for the first time in nearly a decade.
Zakiyah Franklin led KU with 15 points. Taiyanna Jackson added eight points, 12 rebounds and six blocks while also setting a new KU single-season record for rejections.
KU, 20-9 overall, will learn its NCAA Tournament path at 7 p.m. Sunday during the women’s selection show. The Jayhawks, who will be making their first NCAA appearance since 2013, are a projected 9 seed in ESPN’s latest bracketology.
Jesse Newell
Jayhawks roll over WVU (4:26 p.m. Thursday)
Top-seeded Kansas beat No. 9 seed West Virginia 87-63 and moved into a 6 p.m. semifinal against TCU on Friday.
WVU’s season is over, while Kansas’ quest for a Big 12 Tournament championship and a possible No. 1 seed in next week’s NCAA Tournament both remain in play.
Ochai Agbaji scored 18 points, while Christian Braun added 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for KU (26-6). Dajuan Harris had seven assists to go with six points. He put down a breakaway dunk late in the game. Malik Curry had 19 points for WVU.
KU hit 33 of 63 floor shots for 52.4% and went 6 of 18 from three. WVU hit 19 of 58 shots for 32.8% and made 6 of 14 threes.
Gary Bedore
Bob Huggins ejected from KU-WVU game (2:49 p.m. Thursday)
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was ejected midway through the first half of the Kansas-West Virginia quarterfinal.
After West Virginia’s Taz Sherman was called for a technical foul, Huggins was T’d up twice.
KU was awarded six technical free throws and Jalen Wilson made five as the Jayhawks took a 24-4 lead with 9:59 left in the half.
Assistant coach Larry Harrison coached the Mountaineers the rest of the game.
TCU beats Texas (1:46 p.m. Thursday)
TCU stormed back from a 20-point first half deficit to stun No. 4 seed Texas 65-60 in Thursday’s first quarterfinal at the T-Mobile Center.
The No. 5 seed Horned Frogs (20-11) advance to the semifinals, where they’ll face the winner of the Kansas-West Virginia game at 6 p.m. Friday. The Horned Frogs went 1-1 against the top-seeded Jayhawks in a three-day stretch during the final week of the regular season.
Texas (21-11) will await its March Madness fate on Selection Sunday.
Drew Davison
K-State coach Bruce Weber resigns (10:21 a.m. Thursday)
Bruce Weber will not return as the Wildcats’ coach after 10 years leading the Kansas State men’s basketball program. He resigned on Thursday morning, according to an announcement from the school.
Weber won 184 games with the Wildcats, reached the NCAA Tournament five teams, claimed a share of two Big 12 championships and led his team to one Elite Eight.
But the shine of Weber’s first seven years faded after K-State suffered through three straight losing seasons, punctuated by a 14-17 record this year and a 73-67 loss to West Virginia in the opening game of the Big 12 Tournament. The Wildcats haven’t reached the postseason since 2019. Nor have they finished the regular season with a winning record or played in front of 10,000 fans at Bramlage Coliseum over the past three years.
Kellis Robinett
Men’s tournament schedule, at T-Mobile Center
First round: Wednesday, March 9
No. 9 seed West Virginia 73, No. 8 seed Kansas State 67
Quarterfinals: Thursday, March 10
No. 1 Kansas 87, No. 9 West Virginia 63
No. 7 Oklahoma 72, No. 2 Baylor 67
No. 3 Texas Tech 72, No. 6 Iowa State 41
Semifinals: Friday, March 11
No. 3 Texas Tech 56, No. 7 Oklahoma 55
Championship: Saturday, March 12
No. 1 Kansas 74, No. 3 Texas Tech 65
Women’s tournament schedule, at Municipal Auditorium
First round: Thursday, March 10
No. 9 seed Oklahoma State 73, No. 8 seed Texas Tech 58
No. 7 seed West Virginia 68, No. 10 seed TCU 48
Quarterfinals: Friday, March 11
No. 4 Oklahoma 80, No. 5 Kansas 68
No. 1 Baylor 76, No. 9 Oklahoma State 36
No. 2 Iowa State 66, No. 7 West Virginia 60
No. 3 Texas 72, No. 6 Kansas State 65
Semifinals: Saturday, March 12
No. 1 Baylor 91, No. 4 Oklahoma 76
No. 3 Texas 82, No. 2 Iowa State 73, OT
Championship: Sunday, March 13
No. 3 Texas 67, No. 1 Baylor 58
This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 10:02 AM.