Article by The Associated Press. Box Score & Postgame Notes provided by Kansas Athletics.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Henri Veesaar and KJ Lewis scored 19 points apiece and Arizona pulled away late to beat Kansas 88-77 in a Big 12 Conference Championship quarterfinal at T-Mobile Center on Thursday night.
Veesaar came off the bench to sink 7 of 11 shots with two 3-pointers for the third-seeded Wildcats (21-11), who move on to play second-seeded and ninth-ranked Texas Tech in a Friday semifinal. No. 1 seed Houston plays No. 4 seed BYU in the other semifinal.
Veesaar scored 10, leading Arizona to a 45-37 advantage at halftime. Dajuan Harris Jr.’s 3-pointer gave No. 6 seed Kansas (21-12) its only lead of the half at 3-2. The Wildcats twice built 12-point leads. KJ Adams made two free throws to get the Jayhawks within 40-37, but Veesaar answered with a 3-pointer and Arizona stayed in front.
“We didn’t do a good job defensively and they shot the ball well early,” said Kansas head coach Bill Self. “We actually played pretty well for the next 20 minutes but our guys tried hard. I just didn’t feel like we had the energy defensively to keep them out of the paint.”
Zeke Mayo scored a team-high 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting, which included hitting 5-of-12 three-point attempts. Mayo became the first Kansas player since at least 1996-97 to make 5+ three-pointers in three straight games.
Arizona played with a lead until Mayo hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Kansas to knot the score at 50 with 15:43 remaining. Harris hit a 3-pointer to give the Jayhawks their second lead at 56-54. Rylan Griffen hit a jumper with 8:44 left to put Kansas up for the last time at 63-61. Trey Townsend followed with a dunk and a three-point play and Arizona maintained a lead over the final 7:48.
Towsend had 16 points and Love scored 11 with six assists.
