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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Arizona Wildcats shot 52.6% from the field and defended Kansas better than they did five days earlier to beat the Jayhawks 88-77 in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal game Thursday at T-Mobile Center.
The win moved Arizona to 21-11 and into a Big 12 semifinal game against Texas Tech on Friday at about 6:30 p.m., keeping alive the possibility that the Wildcats could still pick up a preferential top four NCAA Tournament seed on Selection Sunday.
Kansas dropped to 21-12.
Henri Veesaar, coming off the bench while UA coach Tommy Lloyd opted to put Trey Townsend back in the starting lineup, led the Wildcats with 19 points and four rebounds – while Townsend added 16 points and three rebounds.
Arizona held Kansas to 41.9% shooting.
Arizona called a timeout with 5:43 left after Kansas trimmed UA’s lead to 70-69 on a turnaround jumper from Dickinson, who had begun hurting the Wildcats inside after scoring mostly outside before halftime. Dickinson had 19 points and 12 rebounds at that point after collecting 33 points and 10 rebounds against Arizona on March 8.
But Henri Veesaar drove inside for a score and picked up a foul from Dickinson, then converted a three-point play to give the Wildcats a 73-69 lead with 5:02 to go, and UA were up by seven with four to go before Dajuan Harris responded to having Bryant block his shot out of bounds by hitting a 3-pointer that made it 76-72 with 3:24 left.
But Arizona scored six straight points to go ahead 82-72 with 1:37 left and hung on from there against the Jayhawks, who had to go to overtime a night earlier to beat UCF and reach the quarterfinals.
Leading 45-37 at halftime after shooting 53.3% in the first half and making 7 of 11 3-pointers, the Wildcats took 10-point lead early in the second half but Kansas went on a 10-1 run to tie the game at 50 when Zeke Mayo hit a stepback 3-pointer from the right corner with 15:43 left.
After Arizona scored twice inside, Mayo hit another three with 14:03 left to cut Arizona’s lead to 54-53 and the lead remained within a single digit Veesaar made his three-point play with five minutes left.
In the first half, Arizona shot 53.3% while hitting 7 of 11 3-pointers to take a 45-37 halftime lead over the Jayhawks.
Veesaar led UA with 10 points while hitting both 3-pointers he took, while freshman forward Carter Bryant also hit two 3-pointers off the bench.
Dickinson had eight points and nine rebounds to lead Kansas, but had six of his points off two 3-pointers while the Wildcats successfully defended the interior.
Kansas shot 33.3% overall but made just 4 of 17 shots inside the arc, and the Jayhawks kept it close throughout the half mostly because they hit 7 of 15 3-pointers.
After UA took leads of up to 12 points midway through the first half, a 3-pointer from Kansas’ Dajuan Harris cut UA’s lead to just 38-35 entering a timeout with 2:42 left in the half.
The Jayhawks cut it to three again with 1:54 left when KJ Adams hit two free throws but Veesaar hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 56 seconds remaining in the half.
Neither team raced out to an advantage early, with Dickinson and Veesaar trading 3-pointers that led to a 9-9 tie four minutes into the game but the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run featuring 3s from Carter Bryant and KJ Lewis.
Arizona went on to take two 12-point leads midway through the half but Kansas later wrapped 3s from guards David Coit and Dajuan Harris around the eight-minute media timeout to cut UA’s lead to six points and 3s from Zeke Mayo and Harris each pulled Kansas to within three.
UA coach Tommy Lloyd opted to start Trey Townsend over Veesaar at power forward after Townsend had 13 points and seven rebounds at Kansas on March 8, though he wound up playing Veesaar 15 minutes off the bench anyway. Townsend had four points and two rebounds in 14 minutes.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Wildcats avenge loss at KU, top Jayhawks to reach Big 12 semis
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The win moved Arizona to 21-11 and into a Big 12 semifinal game against Texas Tech on Friday at about 6:30 p.m., keeping alive the possibility that the Wildcats could still pick up a preferential top four NCAA Tournament seed on Selection Sunday.
Kansas dropped to 21-12.
Henri Veesaar, coming off the bench while UA coach Tommy Lloyd opted to put Trey Townsend back in the starting lineup, led the Wildcats with 19 points and four rebounds – while Townsend added 16 points and three rebounds.
Arizona held Kansas to 41.9% shooting.
Arizona called a timeout with 5:43 left after Kansas trimmed UA’s lead to 70-69 on a turnaround jumper from Dickinson, who had begun hurting the Wildcats inside after scoring mostly outside before halftime. Dickinson had 19 points and 12 rebounds at that point after collecting 33 points and 10 rebounds against Arizona on March 8.
But Henri Veesaar drove inside for a score and picked up a foul from Dickinson, then converted a three-point play to give the Wildcats a 73-69 lead with 5:02 to go, and UA were up by seven with four to go before Dajuan Harris responded to having Bryant block his shot out of bounds by hitting a 3-pointer that made it 76-72 with 3:24 left.
But Arizona scored six straight points to go ahead 82-72 with 1:37 left and hung on from there against the Jayhawks, who had to go to overtime a night earlier to beat UCF and reach the quarterfinals.
Leading 45-37 at halftime after shooting 53.3% in the first half and making 7 of 11 3-pointers, the Wildcats took 10-point lead early in the second half but Kansas went on a 10-1 run to tie the game at 50 when Zeke Mayo hit a stepback 3-pointer from the right corner with 15:43 left.
After Arizona scored twice inside, Mayo hit another three with 14:03 left to cut Arizona’s lead to 54-53 and the lead remained within a single digit Veesaar made his three-point play with five minutes left.
In the first half, Arizona shot 53.3% while hitting 7 of 11 3-pointers to take a 45-37 halftime lead over the Jayhawks.
Veesaar led UA with 10 points while hitting both 3-pointers he took, while freshman forward Carter Bryant also hit two 3-pointers off the bench.
Dickinson had eight points and nine rebounds to lead Kansas, but had six of his points off two 3-pointers while the Wildcats successfully defended the interior.
Kansas shot 33.3% overall but made just 4 of 17 shots inside the arc, and the Jayhawks kept it close throughout the half mostly because they hit 7 of 15 3-pointers.
After UA took leads of up to 12 points midway through the first half, a 3-pointer from Kansas’ Dajuan Harris cut UA’s lead to just 38-35 entering a timeout with 2:42 left in the half.
The Jayhawks cut it to three again with 1:54 left when KJ Adams hit two free throws but Veesaar hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 56 seconds remaining in the half.
Neither team raced out to an advantage early, with Dickinson and Veesaar trading 3-pointers that led to a 9-9 tie four minutes into the game but the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run featuring 3s from Carter Bryant and KJ Lewis.
Arizona went on to take two 12-point leads midway through the half but Kansas later wrapped 3s from guards David Coit and Dajuan Harris around the eight-minute media timeout to cut UA’s lead to six points and 3s from Zeke Mayo and Harris each pulled Kansas to within three.
UA coach Tommy Lloyd opted to start Trey Townsend over Veesaar at power forward after Townsend had 13 points and seven rebounds at Kansas on March 8, though he wound up playing Veesaar 15 minutes off the bench anyway. Townsend had four points and two rebounds in 14 minutes.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Wildcats avenge loss at KU, top Jayhawks to reach Big 12 semis
Continue reading...
