Dylan Disu scored 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and No. 7 Texas rolled to a convincing 76-56 victory over No. 3 Kansas on Saturday to win the Big 12 tournament championship on Saturday at Kansas City, Mo.
Marcus Carr and Sir’Jabari Rice scored 17 points apiece as the second-seeded Longhorns (26-8) won the tournament title for the second time in three seasons.
Jalen Wilson scored 24 points for top-seeded Kansas (27-7), which could be hurt by the large margin of defeat in its quest to land the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Joseph Yesufu added 11 points for the Jayhawks.
Kansas was without coach Bill Self for the third straight game. Self underwent an emergency medical procedure earlier this week. Norm Roberts again served as interim coach.
The Jayhawks were without Kevin McCullar (back spasms), who was injured in Friday’s semifinal win over Iowa State. As expected, Texas was without forward Timmy Allen (lower leg) for the third straight game.
The Longhorns won two of this season’s three meetings against Kansas, including a 75-59 home rout on March 4.
Texas shot 50 percent from the field, while making just 4 of 17 from 3-point range, winning the tourney title under interim coach Rodney Terry.
The Jayhawks connected on 41.4 percent of their shots and were 4 of 17 from behind the arc. Kansas committed 15 turnovers to Texas’ 10 and the Longhorns had a 17-4 edge in points off turnovers.
Carr knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Longhorns a 52-41 lead with 14:33 remaining. Five-plus minutes later, Carr scored on a layup to push the Texas lead to 60-45 with 9:20 left.
Gradey Dick’s jumper brought Kansas within 12 with 7:39 remaining but the Longhorns answered with eight consecutive points for a 20-point lead.
Rice delivered a lob that Arterio Morris slammed home to make it 70-50 with 4:34 remaining to effectively put the game away.
Wilson scored 17 first-half points, but the Jayhawks trailed 39-33 at the break.
Kansas led 28-25 before Texas scored 10 straight points and 14 of the final 19 in the half. Carr drove in for a short bank shot as time expired to give the Longhorns the six-point lead.
–Field Level Media
