๐Ÿ€ Jayhawks to Face Cyclones in Big 12 Semis Friday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – No. 1 seed Kansas (26-6) advanced to the semifinal of the 2023 Big 12 Championship with a 78-61 win against No. 8 seed West Virginia on March 9, at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. KU will face No. 5 seed Iowa State (19-12) in the semifinals, March 10, at 6 p.m. on ESPN. ISU defeated No. 4 seed Baylor, 78-72, in its quarterfinal game on March 9.

TIPOFF

  • KU has won 16 postseason league tourney titles and 12 in the Big 12 era. KU (12), ISU (5), OU (3) and OSU (2) are active league members with Big 12 tournament titles. West Virginia has won 13 conference tournament titles.
  • Kansas leads the overall series with Iowa State, 189-67, including a 6-6 record in postseason conference tournaments, 3-3 in the Big 12 era.
  • Kansas won its 21st Big 12 and NCAA-leading 64th all-time conference regular-season title in 2023, the 17th under Bill Self.
  • Last season, Kansas became the all-time winningest program in NCAA Division I, currently at 2,383 victories.
  • Entering the 2023 Big 12 Championship, Kansas was No. 8 in the NET Rankings through games played on March 7. Kansas is No. 1 in NET Strength of Schedule and its 15 Quadrant 1 wins are the most in NCAA Division I.
  • Kansas has appeared in the Associated Press top 10 in each of the last 37 polls, dating back to the 2021-22 preseason poll. The 37 consecutive is the longest active streak in menโ€™s college basketball.
  • Big 12 Player of the Year and national player of the year candidate, redshirt-junior Jalen Wilson leads the Big 12 in scoring at 19.8 ppg, rebounds per game at 8.4 and double-doubles with 11.
  • Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, redshirt-junior Dajuan Harris Jr. leads the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.4. He is second in the league and sixth nationally in assists per game at 6.3.
  • Redshirt-senior Kevin McCullar Jr. is second in the Big 12 in steals (2.1). He is third in the league in rebounds per game at 7.3 rpg.
  • Freshman Gradey Dick leads the team with 77 threes made, which are second on the Kansas freshman all-time list and two from first. Dickโ€™s 460 points are sixth on the Kansas freshman list and his 84.1 free throw percentage is second.
  • Kansas is celebrating 125 years of menโ€™s basketball in 2022-23.

UP NEXT
Should Kansas win, it would play for the Big 12 Championship title on Saturday, March 11, at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN. Kansas is 16-7 all-time in postseason league tournament title games, including 12-3 in the Big 12 finals with titles in 1997-98-99, 2006-07-08-10-11-13-16-18-22.