Texas punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament on Saturday after claiming its second-ever Big 12 championship with a 76–56 victory over Kansas in Kansas City, Mo.
The No. 2 seed Longhorns (26–8) capped their dominant season with their second Big 12 title in three years, adding to the program’s recent stretch of success over the past couple of seasons. Texas’s resounding win over top-seeded Kansas (27–7) also marked the Jayhawks’s largest-ever loss in the Big 12 tournament, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Behind a standout effort from backcourt senior duo of Marcus Carr and Sir’Jabari Rice, Texas, the seventh-ranked team in the nation, hung tough with No. 3 Kansas and eventually took a 39–33 lead into halftime. A pair of baskets by Carr helped increase the lead to start the second half as the Longhorns would seize momentum of the contest and outscore the Jayhawks, 31–19, over the final 18:30 minutes.
Carr and Rice each finished with 17 points on a combined 15-of-27 shooting from the field while senior forward Dylan Disu led the way with 18 points en route to being named tournament MVP. The team leaned on the experienced trio to guide it to victory under interim coach Rodney Terry, who went 19–7 during the regular season after taking over in the wake of Chris Beard’s ouster earlier this year.
As for Kansas, who were without coach Bill Self due to health reasons, the program was unable to follow up their second consecutive Big 12 regular season title with back-to-back conference championships.
Junior forward Jalen Wilson, the Big 12 Player of the Year, poured in a game-high 24 points, but the team saw little contributions from anywhere else. Junior guard Joseph Yesufu was only other player to score in double figures with 11 points, and standout freshman Gradey Dick was held to six points on 3-of-11 shooting.
With Saturday’s contest in the books, Texas and Kansas will now have to wait just one more day for Selection Sunday to find out where they’ll be playing in the NCAA tournament.
