Mike Christy / Arizona Athletics
Kansas City, Missouri —The No. 3 seed University of Arizona men’s basketball team (21-11, 14-6 in Big 12) secured a 88-77 Big 12 quarterfinal victory over the No. 6 University of Kansas (21-12,11-9 in Big 12) on Thursday, March 13 at 8:30 p.m. CT in T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. The Wildcats earned this rematch win after Saturday’s 83-76 loss to the Jayhawks, limiting Kansas to just 77 points in the Big 12 quarterfinals.
Henri Veesaar and KJ Lewis scored 19 points apiece to lead Arizona to victory. Veesaar shot 7-for-11 from the field, including two 3-pointers that helped separate the Wildcats in the first half. Trey Townsend added 16 points himself as he collected 6-of-8 shot opportunities for the evening. Defensively, Lewis and Carter Bryant had five rebounds each, while Lewis also added on four steals.
Arizona shot a collective 53.4% from the field and held Kansas to 42.2% shooting. The Wildcats stunned Kansas when it came to making it into the paint, outscoring the Jayhawks 46-20.
“My teammates just put me in the right spots to score. I made easy passes, I got easy layups, easy shots. They gave me the ball down low, I got to paint, and I think playing off of two feet helped me definitely,” Veesaar said.
“We have no problem, you know, playing in the paint. If you look at the guys coming off the bench today for us […]. Obviously, Carter Bryant’s an elite young talent. You have Henri [Veesaar], who’s getting experience and really talented, and you have KJ Lewis, who is a game-changer with his effort and energy. I mean, those are really good players,” said Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd.
“When you can bring three guys off your bench like that, you know, kind of have a team that settles into executing a game plan with poise, I think that is a good formula, and these guys showed something tonight.”
First half
Kansas won the tip-off but didn’t get the roll-off on the first possession. Townsend then scored a layup for Arizona, putting the Wildcats up 2-0. The Jayhawks responded with a 3-pointer, but Tobe Awaka scored a jumper in the paint to reclaim the 4-3 advantage.
After Jaden Bradley received a foul, Jayhawk guard Zeke Mayo made 1-of-2 free throws, tying the game at 6. Henri Veesaar made Arizona’s first 3-pointer of the night, only to be replicated on the other end by 7-foot-2 center Hunter Dickinson.
Suddenly, the Wildcats were on an 8-0 scoring run after Bryant hit a 3-pointer, gaining a 17-9 advantage. Bryant and Lewis hit back-to-back 3-pointers, stretching the lead to 11. Arizona was able to find a spark offensively, hitting 5-for-6 from beyond the arc to lead the Jayhawks 27-16 with 11:09 remaining in the first period.
David Coit made his shot from beyond the arc for Kansas, but Awaka answered on the other end with a layup to regain the double-digit lead. Arizona was able to control the tempo of the game despite the Jayhawks’ attempt to score, as Veesaar hit a hookshot to keep the Wildcats ahead. Zeke Mayo hits a second-chance 3-pointer, trimming the lead down to 35-32, before Bradley answered with his 3-pointer to put the Wildcats ahead 38-32.
Love closed the first period with a driving layup to separate Arizona 45-37 going into halftime.
Veesaar led Arizona with 10 first-half points, making 4-of-6 shot opportunities. Arizona found its footing from beyond the arc, shooting a comfortable 7-for-11 from 3-point range as a team. The Wildcats limited the Jayhawks to just 33.3% shooting from the field compared to their 53.3%. As Arizona found a way to defend Jayhawks leading scorer and rebounder Dickinson, the center was held to just 8 first half points on 3-for-10 shooting.
Second half
Out of halftime, Anthony Dell’Orso hit a second-chance layup. Soon after, Dickinson started scoring, making back-to-back shots in the paint to trim the score down to 49-44. Zeke Mayo tied the game at 50 after making a 3-pointer, but Townsend made a second-chance jumper to bring the Wildcats ahead by 2 points.
The Jayhawks took their first lead of the game at 56-54, but Lewis put the Wildcats back up by 2 points after making a pull-up jumper. Kansas started to get comfortable on the baseline as Mayo shot a stepback 3-pointer to take a 59-56 lead.
After tying the game at 63 with a dunk, Townsend followed the shot with another possession, this time called on a goal-tend and followed it with a free-throw to complete the play. Following a made layup, Veesaar completed the 3-point play with a free-throw to help the Wildcats find a 73-69 lead with 5:02 remaining in regulation.
Lewis scored after collecting the ball off a turnover. Moments later, Harris Jr. attempted a layup, but Bryant rejected the ball to obtain the block. Despite the defensive effort from Bryant, Harris Jr. shot a 3-pointer to get within 4 points of the 76-72 score.
Out of a 30-second timeout, Townsend made a layup as Veesaar followed with two-made free throws to bring Arizona up by 8 points with 2:07 left in the second half. The momentum carried onto Lewis as he made a jumper that put the Wildcats ahead 82-72 with 1:37 remaining in regulation.
Kansas was never able to control the score long enough to gain the victory, resulting in an 88-77 Big 12 quarterfinal win for Arizona.
“I thought on Saturday, we played more desperate. Last home game, senior day, I thought, tonight, we tried hard, but I didn’t feel we played quite as desperate or with as much reckless abandon tonight as we did Saturday,” said Kansas head coach Bill Self. “Arizona’s good, and they’re talented, and they’re athletic and they have depth, and they throw bodies. Think about their team from my perspective, they’re success will be determined by how they shoot the basketball.”
Looking ahead
The Wildcats will move on to compete in the Big 12 semifinals as Arizona has the opportunity to play No. 2 Texas Tech University on Friday, March 14, at 8:30 p.m. CT in T-Mobile Center.
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