KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Snip by snip, the Kansas Jayhawks took down another championship net.
Balanced and sharp when it needed to be, No. 1 Kansas won its seventh Big 12 Tournament title Saturday night, holding off No. 9 Kansas State 72-64 inside an ear-ringing Sprint Center.
“Having a chance to beat, in our estimation, one of the best teams in the country in a great atmosphere against your state rival in Kansas City makes it a little more special than if we’d been playing anybody else,” Kansas coach Bill Self said.
Taking the stage in one of the biggest sporting events in Kansas City’s history, the Jayhawks (32-2) wore down the Wildcats defensively and came to life briefly on offense in the second half to beat their rivals for the third time this season.
The Jayhawks won a sixth straight regular-season Big 12 title and capped that with a gritty three-game run through one of the toughest conference tournaments in the country, a combination that’ll likely earn them a No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament when the brackets are announced today.
Marcus Morris had 18 points, Tyrel Reed added 15 and Kansas held the Wildcats to 34 percent shooting to keep the Sunflower Showdown a lopsided affair with its 41st win — six in the Big 12 Tournament — in 43 meetings since 1994. Sherron Collins added 12 points and seven assists for the Jayhawks.
“I think we have some momentum going into the NCAA tournament,” said Reed, who hit both 3-point attempts and was 7-of-9 on free throws. “We’ll celebrate tonight and starting tomorrow start focusing on our first-round opponent.”
Kansas State (26-7) had visions of ending its conference tournament title drought at 30 years against the one team it wants to beat the most. The Wildcats gave themselves a shot behind a scrappy defensive effort, but didn’t have an answer when Kansas made its second-half push.
Now, Kansas State goes into Selection Sunday hoping its school-record 26 wins and top-10 strength of schedule will be enough to sway the NCAA selection committee into giving it a high seed.
Denis Clemente scored 17 points, Jamar Samuels added 14 and Jacob Pullen contributed 13 for Kansas State.
“We went to the championship (game) and went nose-to-nose with the bear,” Kansas State coach Frank Martin said. “We were right there and just couldn’t finish it off.
“KU is the best team in the country,” Martin added. “Every time we made a push today, they answered.”
