LAWRENCE, Kan. — No. 10 Kansas celebrated the return of Ochai Agbaji to the starting lineup by defeating the No. 8 Baylor Bears, 83-59, on Saturday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse.
Christian Braun scored 18 points with 10 rebounds and Jalen Wilson added 15 points, seven boards and four assists for Kansas in a Big 12 showdown in which Agbaji, KU's first-team All-America candidate, scored 18 points (with nine rebounds) in 32 minutes after missing Tuesday's 70-61 victory at Iowa State because of COVID-19 protocols.
Prior to Tuesday, Agbaji had started 97 straight games for Kansas.
David McCormack hit 7 of 8 free throws and scored nine points (with eight boards) while Mitch Lightfoot had eight points and five boards and Dajuan Harris seven assists for the Jayhawks (19-3, 8-1), who avoided losing back-to-back games in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since the 1988-89 season. Kentucky had defeated KU, 80-62 on Jan. 29.
Adam Flagler scored 16 points while Kendall Brown had 12 points and eight rebounds for Baylor (19-4, 7-3), which fell to 1-18 all time in Allen.
The Bears had entered the game as the Big 12's second-place team, just a game behind KU in the loss column.
KU led by as many as 20 points the first half and carried a 39-21 lead into the break. Braun scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds while Wilson had 10 points and three assists with two steals the first 20 minutes. Agbaji had six points and three rebounds and Harris five assists.
Kansas coach Bill Self used just seven players in the half — one in which KU stormed to leads of 12-2, 23-7 and 27-10. Brown had seven points and six rebounds the first half for Baylor.
Baylor had won nine consecutive games against AP top-10 opponents. Its last loss to a top-10 team had been Feb. 22, 2020 vs. No. 3 Kansas.
The Bears were playing without their leading scorer, LJ Cryer, who has a foot injury.
Prior to Saturday's game, Self said he was hoping for a big game from Agbaji.
"It's good to have No. 30 back," Self said in his pregame radio interview. "He's fine. He's probably a little rusty. He had four or five days he didn't do much of anything. But he's fine. No side effects."
KU point guard Remy Martin missed his second straight game as he recovers from a bone bruise in his right knee.
KU is set to play Texas at 8 p.m., Monday, in Austin, Texas.
