🏀 GAME PREVIEW: Big 12 Championship - Quarterfinals

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Big 12 Conference regular-season champion and No. 1-ranked Kansas (28-3, 17-1) is set to tip off postseason play when it hits the court at Kansas City’s Sprint Center for the 2020 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship this week. KU enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed for the 16th time in the 24-year history of the league after the Jayhawks won their NCAA-leading 62nd regular-season conference championship.

Kansas will face No. 8 Oklahoma State on Thursday, March 12 at approximately 1:30 p.m. Kansas has won 16 conference tournament titles, including eight of the last 15 and 11 of the 23 total Big 12 Championships. Thursday’s quarterfinal contest will be broadcast on ESPN2, with Rich Hollenberg (play-by-play), Chris Spatola (analyst) and Kris Budden (reporter) set to call the action.

GAME INFORMATION:

#1/1 Kansas vs. Oklahoma State

Date/Time: Thursday, March 12 at 1:30 p.m. (CT)

Where: Sprint Center

Listen: Jayhawk Radio Network

Watch: ESPN2

Rich Hollenberg (play-by-play), Chris Spatola (analyst), Kris Budden (reporter)

TIPOFF

Kansas is the No. 1 seed for the Big 12 Championship for the 16th time, including the 11th time in the last 12 years. KU was the No. 3 seed last year.
KU is 31-7 as the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Championship and has won the title eight times as the tournament’s top seed.
Kansas has won 15 postseason conference tourney titles and 11 in the Big 12 era. KU (11), ISU (5), OU (3) and OSU (2) are active league members with Big 12 tournament titles.
Since the Big 12’s inception in 1996-97, Kansas is 46-12 in the league tournament. KU is 1-0 in opening round games, 20-3 in the quarterfinals, 14-6 in semifinals and 11-3 in finals.
KU won its NCAA-leading 62nd overall and Big 12-leading 19th conference regular-season title. The Jayhawks have won 15 of the last 16 league titles.
KU went 17-1 in Big 12 play and is the first team in Big 12 history to win 17 league games. KU also became the first team to go undefeated on the road in league play (9-0) under the current
double round-robin format (began in 2012-13).
Kansas’ 16-game winning streak is the third-longest nationally. It is also tied for the fifth-longest in the Bill Self era (since 2003-04).
KU is No. 1 in the NET rankings as of March 9 games. The Jayhawks’ strength of schedule is also No. 1. Kansas is the only school with 12 Quadrant 1 wins. KU’s 20 Q1 and Q2 combined wins are also more than any other school.
Five Jayhawks earned Big 12 postseason awards. Udoka Azubuike was the Big 12 Player of the Year, All-Big 12 First Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team. Devon Dotson was All-Big 12 First Team. Marcus Garrett was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, All-Big 12 Third Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team. Ochai Agbaji was an Honorable Mention pick, while Christian Braun was on the Big 12 All-Freshman Team.
Dotson and Azubuike are two of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy, among the 15 on the Wooden Award National Ballot and members of the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Watch List. Junior Marcus Garrett is one of 10 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalists.

Bill Self Previews Big 12 Championship

NOTES:

KANSAS AT THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

KU’s 11 Big 12 Championship titles are more than any other school in the league. Iowa State is second with five titles, while Oklahoma (3) and Oklahoma State (2) are the only other current schools to have won a Big 12 tourney. Kansas won the first three events 1997-98-99, then the 2006-07-08-10-11-13-16-18 titles. KU is 11-3 in tourney title games, having lost the 2002 title to Oklahoma and the 2015 and 2019 titles to Iowa State.
Kansas is the only team to have won at least 40 games in the Big 12 Championship. The Jayhawks are 46-12 (79.3%) in the event. Texas (26-23, 53.1%), Oklahoma State (24-21, 53.3%), Oklahoma (22-20, 52.4%) and Iowa State (20-18, 52.6%) are next in most wins in the event.
With a 32-8 (80.0%) record, KU head coach Bill Self has the highest winning percentage in Big 12 Championship history with more than one tournament (Frank Haith went 3-0 at Missouri in 2012).
Kansas has been the No. 1 seed 16 times (1997-98-2002-03-07-09-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-20), No. 2 seed four times (2001-05-06-08), No. 3 seed three times (1999-2004-19) and was the No. 5 seed in 2000.
KU has reached the semifinals in 20 of the 23 Big 12 Championships. The Jayhawks did not reach the 2000, 2009 or 2017 semis.
Kansas has won eight of its 11 Big 12 titles as the No. 1 seed – 1997, 1998, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2018. KU was the No. 3 seed in its 1999 title run and the No. 2 seed in 2006 and 2008.
Kansas has had 48 conference championship all-tournament selections, including 31 in the 23-year history of the Big 12 Championship. Last year, Devon Dotson and Dedric Lawson were all-tournament selections.

KANSAS COLLECTS LEAGUE TITLE NO. 62

With its win in 2019-20, Kansas claimed its 19th Big 12 regular-season title, including the 15th in its last 16 seasons. KU’s 62 all-time conference titles are the most in NCAA Division I history. Kentucky is second with 55 and Penn third at 38. The Jayhawks have claimed 15 outright or shared league titles since 2003-04, the next best team in a major conference is Kentucky, who has seven SEC titles over the last 17 seasons.

KANSAS CONFERENCE REGULAR-SEASON TITLES
62 (*Tied for the championship)
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (13) – 1908-09-10-11-12*-14*-15-22*-23-24-25-26-27
Big Six (12) – 1931-32-33-34-36-37*-38-40*-41*-42*-43-46
Big Seven (5) – 1950*-52-53-54*-57
Big Eight (13) – 1960*-66-67-71-74-75-78-86-91*-92-93-95-96
Big 12 (19) – 1997-98-2002-03-05*-06*-07-08*-09-10-11-12-13*-14-15-16-17-18-20 (possible tie)

DOTSON SPRINTING TOWARD 1,000 POINTS

Jayhawk sophomore Devon Dotson is looking to join elite company as he approaches a milestone in his young KU career. Dotson is just 14 points from scoring his 1,000th point in a Kansas uniform and is on pace to be among the fastest Jayhawks to break the 1K scoring mark.

Dotson, who is 66 games into his collegiate career, is on pace to become just the 11th Jayhawk to score his 1,000th point within his first 70 outings and the first under Bill Self. Wilt Chamberlain was the fastest to 1,000 points, needing an incredible 34 games. If Dotson hits the milestone before the end of this season, he would be eighth Jayhawk to score 1,000 within his first two seasons at KU.

ALL-CONFERENCE CORONATION

Highlighted by Big 12 Player of the Year Udoka Azubuike, Kansas was well represented on the men’s basketball 2019-20 All-Big 12 Team selected by the conference coaches, the league announced March 8.

Azubuike, a senior, was the Big 12 Player of the Year and he and KU sophomore guard Devon Dotson were unanimous selections for the 2020 All-Big 12 First Team. Jayhawk junior Marcus Garrett is the 2020 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and he was named to the All-Big 12 Third Team. Both Garrett and Azubuike were named to the Big 12 All-Defensive Team with Garrett being a unanimous selection. Sophomore guard Ochai Agbaji was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention choice and guard Christian Braun was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes.

In the history of the Big 12, Kansas has now landed two players on the All-Big 12 First Team 11 times with the last being Frank Mason III and Josh Jackson in 2017. Kansas leads the Big 12 with an all-time high 127 student-athletes named to All-Big 12 Teams. Texas is second with 98, while Baylor is third with 85 selections.

SERIES HISTORY vs. OKLAHOMA STATE:

vs. Oklahoma State: KU leads 118-59
Current Streak: Win 5
Longest KU Win Streak: 11
Longest KU Losing Streak: 5
Last 10 Meetings: 8-2
In Lawrence: KU leads 64-12
In Stillwater: KU leads 38-35
Neutral Sites: KU leads 16-12
Under Bill Self: KU leads 21-10
First Meeting: Feb. 11, 1926 (W, 38-18)
Last Meeting: Feb. 24, 2020 (W, 83-58)
Largest Margin of Victory: 35
Largest Margin of Defeat: 33

UP NEXT:

Should Kansas win, the Jayhawks will play in the semifinals on Friday, March 13, at 6 p.m. (CT) on ESPN or ESPN2.

KU would face the winner of the No. 4 Texas Tech vs. No. 5 Texas contest. Kansas is 22-16 all-time in conference tournament semifinals, including 14-6 in the Big 12 Championship.