Arizona KOs Kansas to reach Big 12 semifinals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Henri Veesaar and KJ Lewis each scored 19 points to lead Arizona to an 88-77 victory over Kansas in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament on Thursday.

The Wildcats advanced to the semifinals, where they will face No. 2 seed Texas Tech on Friday.

No. 3 seed Arizona (21-11) also got 16 points from Trey Townsend and 11 from Caleb Love.

Zeke Mayo scored 20 points to lead No. 6 seed Kansas (21-12). Hunter Dickinson added 19 and Dajuan Harris had 16. Dickinson also led the Jayhawks with 12 rebounds.

Kansas came out of the half with a 13-5 run, tying the game at 50 on a 3-pointer by Mayo.

Kansas finally grabbed its first lead since 3-2 on a 3-pointer by Harris with 12:30 left in the game. The teams traded short spurts the rest of the half, with neither team able to lead by more than 3 points until Veesaar stretched it to four points with a three-point play with 5:02 left.

The Wildcats stretched it to 76-69, but Harris answered with a 3-pointer at the 3:21 mark. Arizona got it to 80-72 with 2:00 left and Kansas never got it back to a one-possession game.

Arizona jumped out to a 10-point lead with 14:05 left in the first half. The lead stretched to 12 points. Kansas gradually chipped away, cutting it to 40-37 in the final minutes.

The Jayhawks had a chance to tie it on a 3-pointer by Mayo. But Mayo's shot missed and Arizona scored the final five points of the half for a 45-37 lead at halftime. The Jayhawks missed nine of their last 10 shots.

The Wildcats were balanced, with eight players scoring. Veesaar led with 10 points.

Harris paced the Jayhawks with 10 points, while Dickinson nearly had a double-double in the first half with eight points and nine rebounds.

--David Smale, Field Level Media