Jalen Wilson scored a game-high 21 points Tuesday night and No. 3 Kansas held off Texas Tech 67-63 in Lawrence, Kan., to clinch no worse than a tie for the Big 12 Conference regular-season title.
Dajuan Harris added 16 points and five assists for the Jayhawks (25-5, 13-4 Big 12), who can clinch the title outright if TCU beats Texas at home Wednesday night. Kansas can also win the Big 12 title outright with a win at Texas.
Kevin McCullar contributed 14 points for the Jayhawks, who won their 57th straight home game against an unranked opponent and earned their 15th Quad 1 win of the season, the most of any Division I team. Kansas won despite making only 39.3 percent of its shots and getting outrebounded 42-33.
De’Vion Harmon scored 15 points for the Red Raiders (16-14, 5-12), which needed a win desperately to bolster their NCAA Tournament at-large hopes. Kevin Obanor added 14, while Fardaws Aimaq contributed 13 points and 18 rebounds. Pop Isaacs netted 11 points but made only two of 11 shots.
Aimaq and Harmon each missed foul shots in the last 90 seconds when Texas Tech could have tied the game. Aimaq’s miss was the front end of a one-and-one.
Defense dominated the first half. Kansas managed to make only 11 of 30 attempts from the field but Texas Tech was even worse, hitting just 10 of 32. The Red Raiders were 1 of 11 from the 3-point line.
Texas Tech endured scoring droughts of nearly five minutes and almost four minutes in the half, yet was able to stay in contention because it defended well and also won the rebounding battle 23-18. Aimaq grabbed a whopping 11.
But Wilson went on a late run, driving to the bucket for a couple of layups and adding a foul shot with 27 seconds left. That enabled the Jayhawks to head for the locker room with a 30-21 lead at halftime.
Kansas could have led by more but managed just three points off seven Red Raider turnovers.
–Field Level Media
