McCormack leads No. 6 Kansas past No. 21 Texas, 70-63 in OT

Updated Mar. 5, 2022 6:51 p.m. ET

Associated Press

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — David McCormack had 22 points and 10 rebounds, throwing down the clinching dunk after Kansas broke Texas' full-court press in overtime, and the sixth-ranked Jayhawks beat the No. 21 Longhorns 70-63 on Saturday to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament.

Jalen Wilson had 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Christian Braun had 13 points and 11 boards as the Jayhawks (25-6, 14-4) wrapped up at least a share of the regular-season conference title. Baylor could also earn a share later in the night.

The Jayhawks tied it 61-all when Ochai Agbaji, who was 0-for-10 shooting at that point, hit his only field goal with 2:37 left in overtime. Courtney Ramey came up empty at the other end for Texas, and McCormack made two foul shots to give Kansas the lead before Wilson added two more to provide some breathing room.

McCormack's dunk punctuated a big performance on senior night for the bruising big man.

Ramey finished with 18 points for the Longhorns (21-10, 10-8), who battled foul trouble all night and will be the No. 4 seed in the league tournament. Andrew Jones added 12 points and six rebounds.

The Jayhawks nearly won the game in regulation.

They drew up the final play for Agbaji, their national player of the year candidate, but he was bottled up and had to call timeout with 2.2 seconds left. Kansas got the inbound to him, too, but the ball was ripped away and ended up with Jalen Coleman-Lands, whose swish from the corner in front of his own bench came just after the buzzer.

Texas controlled most of the first half, going 5 of 8 from beyond the arc after a 3-for-20 performance against the Jayhawks in February. And the Longhorns held Agbaji, the Big 12's leading scorer, to an 0-for-6 effort from the field.

Not exactly the farewell to Allen Fieldhouse that Agbaji had in mind.

Still, the Jayhawks closed on a big run to take a 35-33 lead into the break.

Braun did most of the work: He drilled a tying 3-pointer with just over 2 minutes to go, then knocked down another with a minute left, and should have added a couple free throws if not for a questionable offensive charging foul.

In fact, the officials spent most of the second half trying to wrestle control of a game trending toward a rock fight.

That was reflected in the Longhorns' rapidly worsening foul trouble. By the time Christian Bishop picked up his fourth with 5:21 left, sending Kansas to the double bonus, coach Chris Beard had three on the verge of fouling out: Marcus Carr, his No. 2 scorer, and 6-foot-6 Brock Cunningham, who'd been forced to battle in the paint all game.

It was only fitting that a game nobody led by more than six in regulation came down to the wire.

Jones hit his only 3-pointer to knot it 55-all, then the teams traded free throws, with Ramey making the first of his two with 54 seconds left, putting the game all square and eventually into overtime.

BIG PICTURE

Texas sent the Jayhawks to the foul line 36 times, where they made 28 shots, and that proved to be the difference. The Longhorns also committed 15 turnovers and were outrebounded 49-42.

Kansas was playing for the third time in five days thanks to a rescheduled game against TCU, but the Jayhawks managed to gut out another senior night win. They've won 39 straight since the 1983-84 season.

UP NEXT

The Jayhawks and Longhorns prepare to play their quarterfinal games Thursday in Kansas City, Missouri.

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