KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Keyshawn Hall scored 23 points, including 17 in the second half, as UCF defeated Utah 87-72 in the first round of the Big 12 tournament Tuesday.
The Knights will face No. 6 seed Kansas in the second round Wednesday night.
It was the 15th 20-point game for Hall, who led the Big 12 in scoring but was not a first-team All-Big 12 selection. He was 12 of 14 from the free-throw line.
The 14th-seeded Knights (17-15) also got 20 points from Darius Johnson, 15 from Jordan Ivy-Curry and 14 points and 11 rebounds from Moustapha Thiam.
No. 11 seed Utah (16-16) was led by Keanu Dawes with 21 points and 15 rebounds. The Utes also got 11 points from Lawson Lovering and 10 from Gabe Madsen.
Colorado 69, TCU 67
Andrej Jakimovski’s 18 points, including 16 in the second half, helped the 16th-seeded Buffaloes beat the No. 9 Horned Frogs.
Julian Hammond III added 16 points for Colorado (13-19), which will face No. 8 West Virginia on Wednesday. The Buffs led by 14 in the second half before TCU chipped away, cutting the deficit to 65-63 with under a minute to go. Colorado hit free throws down the stretch to secure the upset.
Noah Reynolds scored all 17 of his points in the second half for TCU (16-16), while Trazarien White supplied 13.
Cincinnati 87, Oklahoma State 68
Behind Dillon Mitchell’s 18 points and career-best 15 rebounds, the No. 13-seeded Bearcats advanced to the second round of the tournament with a win over the No. 12 Cowboys.
Day Day Thomas had a season-high 21 points for Cincinnati (18-14), which forced a season-high 24 turnovers. Josh Reed had a career-best 19 points for the Bearcats, who will face No. 5 Iowa State on Wednesday.
Connor Dow paced Oklahoma State (15-17) with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.
Kansas State 71, Arizona State 66
Coleman Hawkins scored a season-high 26 points as Kansas State held on to defeat depleted Arizona State.
Kansas State (16-16) got only five points in 17 minutes from leading scorer David N’Guessan because of foul trouble. Dug McDaniel put up 12 of his 14 points in the second half, and Max Jones and Brendan Hausen added 10 points each for the 10th-seeded Wildcats, who will face seventh-seed Baylor in the second round Wednesday.
The Sun Devils (13-19), down to seven scholarship players, were led by Alston Mason with 17 points. He was joined in double figures by Joson Sanon and Basheer Jihad with 13 each plus Shawn Phillips Jr. with 11.
–Field Level Media
