No. 10 Kansas beats No. 16 Baylor in Big 12 semifinals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Wayne Selden Jr. scored 20 points and No. 10 Kansas turned up its suffocating defense to beat No. 16 Baylor 62-52 in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament on Friday night.
Perry Ellis returned from an injury to add 11 points for the top-seeded Jayhawks (26-7), though their leading scorer limped off the floor after getting tangled up late. Ellis never went back into the game after trainers checked on his right knee.
Still, his return combined with the inspired play of Selden helped push a mercurial Kansas team into Saturday night's title game for the 11th time. The Jayhawks will face the winner of the other semifinal between second-seeded Iowa State and No. 3 seed Oklahoma.
Rico Gathers had 11 points and 13 rebounds, and Kenny Chery added 20 points for the fourth-seeded Bears (24-9), who should still feel quite secure heading into Selection Sunday.
With a school-record seven wins over ranked teams this season, the Bears are a near-lock to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large in back-to-back years for the first time.
The Bears came in touting one of the best defenses in school history, a vexing 1-3-1 mashup of zones. But the simpler, man-to-man defense of Kansas was even more effective in the first half, holding the Bears to 5-for-25 shooting from the field.
Their last field goal came with 7:11 left in the half, when they led 16-14. And the Jayhawks took advantage of Baylor's desert-like drought to take a 26-18 lead into the break.
It was the Bears' lowest-scoring half since they managed 16 points over the first 20 minutes in a loss to Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 of last year's NCAA Tournament.
It took the Bears another 3 minutes in the second half before they finally scored another field goal, a layup by Lester Medford. Selden promptly answered with an and-one at the other end, pushing the Jayhawks' lead to 35-20 and leaving a heavily-pro Kansas crowd roaring.
Baylor responded with its only real run of the game.
Royce O'Neale started it and Taurean Prince added an emphatic dunk, drawing Baylor within 35-28. The Bears later got within 41-35, energizing a smaller bunch of green-clad fans.
The Jayhawks clamped down on defense one more time, though.
They forced turnovers on two of the next three possessions, Gathers missed a pair of foul shots and Baylor missed seven straight field goals. The scoring lull allowed the Jayhawks, driving to the basket almost at will, to crank out a 10-0 run that gave them control.
Kansas managed to put the game away from the foul line in the closing minutes, beating the Bears for the first time in three tries in the Big 12 tournament.
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