Kansas City, Mo. — For better or worse, Kansas looked like a totally different team on offense on Thursday night.
The Jayhawks briefly morphed into an outside shooting powerhouse, with guard Zeke Mayo connecting on his first four 3s of the second half to help KU overtake No. 3 seed Arizona in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals. KU attempted nearly as many 3s (31) as 2s (33) on the night and made 14 3s to just 13 2s.
They just didn’t make quite as many as they needed.
The Wildcats outscored the Jayhawks 12-3 over a pivotal stretch of four minutes late in the second half, and avenged their recent defeat against KU by claiming an 88-77 victory at the T-Mobile Center.
“I thought tonight we tried hard,” KU coach Bill Self said, “but I didn’t feel like we played as desperate or with as much reckless abandon tonight as we did Saturday.”
Mayo scored 20 points while attempting a season-high 12 3s and making five, becoming the first Jayhawk in 28 seasons with five 3s in three straight games. KU center Hunter Dickinson led the Jayhawks with 19 points after struggling in the first half, and guard Dajuan Harris Jr. scored 16.
The rest of KU’s roster combined for 22 points.
“I feel like we didn’t give our bench guys enough minutes (for them to be productive),” Dickinson said. “Yeah, I feel like some guys just didn’t execute how Coach wanted to, and he probably let the four senior guys (stay) out there and just tried to trust in our hands.”
Arizona, meanwhile, got 19 points apiece from center Henri Veesaar and guard KJ Lewis, both of whom came off the bench. The Wildcats shot a cumulative 53.4% and received valuable contributions from starters Caleb Love and Trey Townsend as well.
“The bottom line is we didn’t make them play bad, and in order for us to be a good team, when we’ve played our best, we’ve made our opponents not play very well,” Self said. “That, to me, is the biggest thing. Scoring 77 points should be enough.”
Added Harris: “You can miss shots and win games by playing defense. You can make shots and if you don’t play defense, like you’ve seen, you can lose the game.”
An even start gave way to a slight advantage for the Wildcats when an offensive rebound by Veesaar yielded a second-chance 3-pointer for Anthony Dell’Orso, and then Dickinson committed a live-ball turnover that led to a transition layup as Arizona went ahead 14-9.
KU had a chance to stem the tide after the under-16 media timeout, but instead Carter Bryant hit another 3 as AJ Storr was slightly late to close out on his shot, and Self called for another timeout, only for Harris to turn the ball over immediately on the Jayhawks’ next two possessions.
KU trimmed its deficit to 19-14 briefly as Dickinson connected twice early from long range, but the Jayhawks continued to leave Arizona’s shooters open from beyond the arc, as the Wildcats made five of their first six attempts from deep.
While little went the Jayhawks’ way as the half crossed its midway point, Arizona did begin to rack up fouls, entering the bonus with eight minutes and 32 seconds to go. KU seized a tiny bit of momentum when David Coit drained a 3-pointer from the corner to bring the Jayhawks back within single digits at 33-24 and then Townsend threw the ball away, reviving the Kansas-friendly crowd and leading to another 3 by Harris.
KU used Arizona’s eighth and ninth fouls, followed by a second-chance 3-pointer from the corner for Mayo, to get back within three points for a fleeting moment, only for the Wildcats to strike back just 19 seconds later via Jaden Bradley.
With the Jayhawks down three again, Dickinson swiped the ball from Love, but instead of trying to go all the way on the fast break as he had in recent games, he passed the ball backwards to no one in particular. KU was able to retain possession, but Dickinson missed an alley-oop dunk on the ensuing play.
Neither team accomplished much on offense, but Veesaar’s second 3-pointer with a minute left in the first half and a drive by Love resulted in an eight-point margin for Arizona.
“He was in foul trouble at Allen and he played a pretty good game (tonight),” Harris said of Veesaar. “He made big shots for them at the 3-point line. Their role players had a good game. They had an all-around good game.”
Dickinson went just 3-for-10, including 1-for-7 on 2-point shots, in the first half, as part of a 4-for-18 2-point shooting performance for the Jayhawks, who usually convert inside the arc at 53.7%.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats, a 31.8% 3-point shooting team on the season, shot 7-for-11 from deep.
Dickinson improved by scoring KU’s first seven points of the second half, and then Mayo hit back-to-back 3s to tie the game at 50. With Love on the bench after hobbling off the court, KU stayed hot with additional 3s by Harris and Mayo to go ahead 59-56.
Lewis made a pair of free throws and Love returned to the game in short order after the under-12 timeout and sank a 3. The teams went blow for blow down the stretch, and Townsend made a big play entering the under-8 timeout, scoring through a goaltend and a foul by Flory Bidunga.
Veesaar added another key 3-point play, and another pair of consecutive giveaways by the Jayhawks allowed Arizona to run the clock while stretching its lead to seven points.
“I feel like that’s how they got their run started right there, but you know, that’s what great teams do,” Harris said. “They really wanted this game and it showed, so.”
Mayo missed a 3-pointer with two and a half minutes left and KU trailing by six, and another after the Wildcats went up by eight, before Arizona eventually closed out its victory with minimal drama.
“You can’t make excuses, especially against teams like that,” Harris said. “You’ve got to play hard until the finish line, and Arizona clearly wanted it more.”
Arizona will take on No. 2 seed Texas Tech, which beat Baylor 76-74 on Thursday night, as the Jayhawks bow out of Big 12 play.
“We knew it would be hard to win the tournament playing four games in four days with basically playing five guys or six guys,” Self said. “I’m okay with that. I do think we need a couple of days to rest. We’ve got a tired team. We’ve been riding starters, or at least four of them, for a long time. We can use a little rest. I’d rather play tomorrow and not have rest, but it can also turn out to be an advantage for us going into next week.”
KU will await its NCAA Tournament fate in Sunday’s selection show.
“I’m definitely going to be ready,” Adams said, “and I think that this team’s going to come out with a lot of fire and anger when we get on the court next.”
