Kansas vs. Arizona: Box score, stats, game summary and more ft. Henri Veesaar
No. 6 seed Kansas and No. 3 seed Arizona had a competitive battle in the final Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal game. Arizona (21-11) pulled away late to move on to Friday's semifinals with an 88-77 victory. Kansas (21-12) nearly pulled even, but ran out of gas late in the game.
Kansas vs. Arizona Box Score
Kansas
Arizona
Kansas vs. Arizona Game Summary
The teams were even at 9-9 four minutes into the game. But Arizona then went on a 10-0 run to take an early advantage. 3-pointers by Anthony Dell'orso and Carter Bryant keyed the run. The Wildcats pushed their edge out to 33-21 on a Caleb Love jumper with 8:04 left in the half. Kansas pulled within three, but went to halftime trailing 45-37.
Arizona led 49-40 in the first two minutes of the second half, but Kansas used a 10-1 rally to draw even. The teams battled back and forth with Kansas pulling within 70-69 on a Hunter Dickinson jumper with 5:43 to play. But Kansas went cold and Arizona was then able to take control of the game down the stretch.
The Wildcats were led by Henri Veesaar off the bench with 19 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. KJ Lewis was yet another reserve who chipped in 19 points. Trey Townsend added 16 points and senior guard Caleb Love tallied 11 points and six assists.
Kansas was led by Zeke Mayo, who finished with 20 points, including five 3-pointers. The Jayhawks also leaned heavily on the veteran Dickinson, who finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Dajuan Harris added 16 points for KU.
With Arizona's victory, the top four seeds in the Big 12 Tournament will now meet on Friday for the semifinals. The Wildcats will play No. 2 seed Texas Tech in the later game, starting around 8:30 p.m. EST on ESPN2.
Kansas should be securely in the NCAA Tournament field. ESPN's most recently Bracketology listed the Jayhawks as a No. 6 seed.