Game Notes: No. 2 Kansas 77, No. 6 Texas A&M 71
KANSAS
The Jayhawks became the fourth team in Big 12 Championship history to advance to three straight Championship finals, joining Kansas (1997-99) and Oklahoma (four straight from 2000-03) and Texas, who advanced to its third straight final earlier in the day with a 77-49 win vs Oklahoma.
Big 12 All-Defensive Team member Russell Robinson collected two steals, to give him 21 in his career in Big 12 Championship play passing Oklahoma's Hollis Price's total (20) for the most career steals in Big 12 Championship play. He dished out seven assists, pushing his career Big 12 Championship total to 46, third most in Big 12 Championship history.
Kansas improved to 7-4 in Big 12 Semifinal games and 5-2 in Big 12 Semifinal games played in Kansas City. Kansas had lost two of its last three Kansas City semifinal games prior to today (3/12/05, lost 78-75 to Oklahoma State; 3/10/01, lost 62-57 to Oklahoma; won 90-50 vs Texas Tech on 3/8/02)
All-Big 12 First-Team member Brandon Rush connected on 9-of-13 field goals and on 5-of-8 of his 3-point attempts in scoring a career-high 28 points. In his seven previous Big 12 Championship games 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. His previous career high in points was 24, reached three times (most recently on 3/4/06 at Kansas State)
TEXAS A&M
Marc Turgeon fell to 0-2 as a head coach against his alma mater. He played point guard at Kansas from 1983-87, and served as an assistant coach at Kansas for five seasons, first under Larry Brown (1987-88) and then under Roy Williams (1988-92).
The sixth seed has never advanced to the Big 12 Championship game. They are now 0-3 in semifinal games (Nebraska lost to Kansas, 79-65 on 3/10/2006 and Oklahoma lost to Missouri, 89-60 on 3/8/97)
Sophomore Byran Davis hit his first career 3-point field goal, banking in a shot as the shot clock expired with 8:08 remaining. He had missed his only previous 3-point try (2/27/08 vs Texas Tech). He scored 16 points in the contest, tying his second-best effort of the season (2/5/08 vs Iowa State).
Joseph Jones scored 14 points to reach double figures for the 96th time in his career, to set a school record, passing Vernon Smith's (1977-81) total.
The Aggies outrebounded the Jayhawks by 10, 35-25, but lost for just the second time this season when outrebounding their opposition by double digits (11-2). Kansas had not been outrebounded by such a margin this year. Arizona had held the previous largest rebounding advantage on Kansas this season, outrebounding the Jayhawks 38-29 on 11/25/07.
Big 12 Championship Notes...
Texas and Kansas meet in the final, marking just the second time in the combined 166 playings 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.
Tomorrow's final pits No. 5/5 Kansas vs No. 6/8 Texas. It will serve 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 will be fourth time the top two seeds have clashed for the Big 12 Championship. Both Kansas and Texas have participated in two of those three meetings, including their 2006 game when second-seeded Kansas defeated Texas, 80-68. No. 1 Kansas lost to Oklahoma 64-55 in 2002 and top-seeded Oklahoma State beat Texas 65-49 in 2004.