KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hunter Dickinson had six of his 23 points in overtime as Kansas escaped with a 98-94 victory over UCF in the second round of the Big 12 Conference tournament on Wednesday night.
Kansas will face No. 3 seed Arizona in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Jayhawks defeated the visiting Wildcats 83-76 in the regular-season finale on Saturday.
The sixth-seeded Jayhawks (21-11) were led by Zeke Mayo with 24 points. AJ Storr scored a season-high 19 and KJ Adams added 15.
The 14th-seeded Knights (17-16) were led by Keshawn Hall with 25 points. Darius Johnson scored 22 and Moustapha Thiam and Jordan Ivy-Curry had 13 apiece.
Johnson fouled out with 1:13 left and the Knights trailing 81-80. Adams hit both free throws for Kansas, but Jordan Ivy-Curry sent the game to overtime on a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left.
Dickinson hit the opening bucket of the extra session, a 3-pointer, and the Jayhawks never trailed. Ivy-Curry’s three-point play with 18.2 seconds left trimmed Kansas’ lead to 94-93. Mayo split a pair of free throws, but Thiam’s baseline jumper fell short.
The second half started well for the Jayhawks. Hall hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 40, but the Jayhawks went on a 21-8 run to open their largest lead.
The Jayhawks hit four of their first six attempts from beyond the arc in the second half, including a pair by Dickinson.
Once again, UCF responded. The Knights used a 17-3 run, including a 12-0 spurt, to grab their first lead with 9:21 left in the second half.
A quick 6-0 run put Kansas ahead with 5:59 left. The teams traded mini-spurts and the lead the rest of the way.
The Jayhawks scored the game’s first eight points, but that didn’t seem to faze the Knights, who trailed just 40-37 at halftime.
Mayo led the Jayhawks with 11 first-half points, while Storr and Adams each added nine. Hall led all scorers at the break with 14 points for the Knights.
–David Smale, Field Level Media
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