March 16, 2008

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TEXAS
The Longhorns lost their sixth straight conference championship final. They are 0-5 in Big 12 Championship finals and lost their final Southwest Conference final in 1995. Texas schools have lost in the last five Big 12 finals (Texas also lost in 2004, 2006 and 2007, Texas Tech lost in 2005. No Texas school has captured the Big 12 Championship.

With 20 points, D.J. Augustin increased his career total to 1,177 points. In the process he passed Southern Mississippi's Jeremy Wise (1,158 points) and Campbell's Jonathan Rodriguez (1,162) into third place among active sophomores in Division I. Davidson's Stephen Curry has scored the most points among current second-year players with 1,533 points; Cal's Ryan Ryan Anderson ranks second with 1,199 points.

Texas lost for just the second time in 22 games when leading at the half.

A.J. Abrams hit three 3-point field goals to tie B.J. Tyler's 1993-94 total for the third-most in a single season by a Texas player. He needs three 3-point field goals in the NCAA Tournament to own the top two spots in school history.

KANSAS
Both Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush broke old Big 12 Championship record for 3-point field goals in a final. Chalmers set the record, connecting on 8-of-12 3-point field goals while Rush hit 6-of-9 from beyond the arc. The previous record was shared by Texas' Kenton Paulino vs Kansas on 3/12/06 and Oklahoma's JamesOn Curry on 3/13/05 vs Texas Tech.

Chalmers' 30 points established the most by a Kansas player this season. Brandon Rush scored 28 against Texas A&M in yesterday's semifinal. He also set four career highs (points, 30; previous high was 23 vs UMKC on 11/11/07; field goals, 10; previous high was nine vs Boston College on 12/23/06; 3-point field goals, eight; previous high was six vs UMKC on 11/11/07 and 3-point field goal attempts, 12; previous high was 11 at Nebraska on 2/8/06). He came within one point of setting the Kansas record for points in a Big 12 Championship game (Wayne Simien scored 31 vs Missouri on 3/12/04)

One day after scoring 28 points on 9-of-13 field goals and 5-of-8 of his 3-point attempts Brandon Rush scored 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting, 6-of-9 from 3. In the last two games, he averaged 23.5 points while shooting 60.0 percent from the floors (15-25) and hit 11-of-17 from beyond the arc (64.7 percent). He finished the Championship with 13 3-point field goals, the second-most by an individual in a single Championship (Oklahoma's Glendon Alexander hit 16 in 1999). In his seven previous Big 12 Championship games prior to yesterday's semifinal he had averaged only 11.3 points per game (and never scored more than 19 in a game) while shooting 35.5 from the field and 34.2 percent form beyond the 3-point arc.

Kansas wins its sixth Big 12 Championship, the rest of the league has won six titles. The Jayhawks have won nine straight Championship games, one off the league record, held by Kansas, set from 1997-2000.

The Jayhawks recorded 25 assists on 26 field goals.

Big 12 Championship Notes...
The 91 combined points in the first half (Texas 46, Kansas 45), broke the Big 12 Championship final record for points in a half (85 on 3/11/07, Kansas 45, Texas 40). It marked the highest scoring half in a Big 12 Championship game since Baylor and Missouri combined for 97 (Baylor 49, Texas 48) in the second half of a first-round game in on 3/8/07.

The two teams combined to hit 27-of-53 3-point field goals, shattering the previous record for combined 3-point field goals in a Big 12 Championship game. In the 2006 Championship final, these same two schools connected on 20-of-45 3-point attempts. Kansas broke the previous single-game record for 3-point field goals in a Big 12 Championship final while Texas tied the old mark, 12 by Kansas in the aforementioned 2006 game (12-24). Kansas broke the record for 3-point field goals in any Big 12 Championhip game (previously shared by Missouri, 14-of-19 vs Texas A&M on 3/8/01 and Colorado, 14-of-24 vs Texas on 3/5/99).

Kansas captured its third straight Big 12 Championship and in the process joined Belmont (Atlantic Sun), Winthrop (Big South), Memphis (Conference USA), Davidson (Southern) and Oral Roberts (Summit) as the only six schools in the country to have earned its conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three years.

Texas and Kansas met in the final, marking just the second time in the history of the ACC, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Big East, the SEC and Pac-10 Conference Championships that the two same teams have met in three straight finals. The only other occurrence came in the Big East when Connecticut and Pittsburgh meet in the Championship game in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Connecticut won in 2002 and 2004.

Today's final of No. 5/5 Kansas vs No. 6/8 Texas served as the second-highest combined ranking between the two finalists in Big 12 Championship history. In 2002, No 4/4 Oklahoma defeated No. 1/1 Kansas, 64-55. Both teams would eventually advance to the Final Four.

The Kansas-Texas final marked fourth time the top two seeds have clashed for the Big 12 Championship. The three previous No.1 vs No. 2 games came in 2006 (second-seeded Kansas defeated Texas, 80-68), 2004 (top-seeded Oklahoma State beat Texas 65-49) and in 2002 (No. 1 Kansas lost to Oklahoma 64-55 in 2002).