LAWRENCE, Kan. — No. 6-ranked Kansas completed a regular-season home-and-home sweep of the Big 12 Conference schools from Oklahoma on Monday night by upending Oklahoma State, 76-62, at Allen Fieldhouse.
Ochai Agbaji scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Christian Braun added 16 points and four boards as KU followed Saturday’s 71-69 home win over Oklahoma with its second victory of the season against OSU, a team KU tripped 74-63 on Jan. 4 in Stillwater.
David McCormack contributed 12 points and 12 boards; Jalen Wilson 11 points and seven boards and Dajuan Harris 12 points (two off a career high) with five assists for the Jayhawks (21-4, 10-2), who also went 2-0 versus the Sooners this season. KU defeated OU, 67-64, on Jan. 18 in in Norman.
KU, which led by 10 points at halftime and a sizable 26-point margin midway through the final half, improved to 35-0 in ESPN Big Monday games played in Allen Fieldhouse in the 19-year Bill Self era.
Avery Anderson scored 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting for the Cowboys (12-13, 5-8). Former KU guard Bryce Thompson had 11 points for OSU.
The Jayhawks, who had struggled from the free throw line the last two games, made 19 of 27 to OSU’s 9 of 14.
KU outscored OSU, 7-2, in the final 2 1/2 minutes of the first half and led, 38-28, at the break. The Jayhawks’ biggest lead of the half was 12 points (38-26).
Agbaji scored 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting (1-of-4 from three) with five rebounds, while McCormack had eight points and eight boards the first half. Harris hit two threes and scored eight points with two assists.
Avery Anderson had seven points, Moussa Cisse six points and eight boards and Thompson five points for OSU in the half.
OSU was 0-for-6 from three to KU’s 4-of-14 three point shooting the initial 20 minutes.
KU increased its 10-point halftime lead to 16 points (46-30) at 17:22.
OSU cut the margin to 11 (48-37 at 15:37). However a dunk by Agbaji off a Harris lob, followed by a three by Braun, gave KU a 53-37 margin at 14:31. Zach Clemence hit an inside bucket and Braun two free throws and it was 57-37 at 13:36. An Agbaji layup off a steal made it 59-37 at 12:40. KU kept building the lead. A layup by Wilson and dunk by Braun, both set up by nice defensive hustle by Clemence, gave KU a 68-42 lead at 9:58.
However, Self was forced to call a time out at 7:55 after OSU knocked seven points off the lead and trailed, 68-49. OSU cut the gap to 17 (68-51) at 7:11 and 16 points (70-54) at 6:41. KU scored six straight to increase the lead back to 22 points (76-54) at 4:54.
KU on Monday won its 10th conference game for the 28th-straight season, a streak that started in 1994-95 in the Big Eight Conference era and is the longest active streak in NCAA Division I. KU has actually won 11 league games each year in that span
Gonzaga is second in active 10-win league streaks at 25.
The Cowboys had entered with two wins in their last three games including Saturday’s 81-58, rout of West Virginia in Stillwater.
“Oklahoma State is so athletic, by far the quickest, most athletic team in the league,” Self said in his pregame radio interview. “A lot of our big guys will have to be able to move their feet.
“They are as quick as anybody across the board,” Self noted. “They killed us in transition this year. We did a better job with that in the first game. We had 10 minutes to emphasize that yesterday (at short practice Sunday). We didn’t go up and down at all.”
