March 09, 2021

🏀 No. 11 Kansas to Open Play in the Big 12 Championship Thursday

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas men’s basketball will be the No. 2 Seed for the 2021 Big 12 Championship, March 10-13, at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

KU will play the winner of No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 10 Iowa State in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 11, at 5:30 p.m. (Central). Oklahoma and Iowa State will play Wednesday, March 10, at 8:30 p.m.

KANSAS NOTABLES

Kansas has won 15 postseason conference tourney titles and 11 in the Big 12 era. KU (11), Iowa State (5), Oklahoma (3) and Oklahoma State (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.
Kansas is No. 14 in NET nationally in strength of schedule among the 357 teams listed. Kansas’ NET is No. 14, which is second in the conference.
Kansas’ 14 Quadrant 1 games played in 2020-21 are tied for the most in the Big 12 with Kansas State. KU is 6-8 versus Quadrant 1 teams, 3-0 vs. Q2, 4-0 vs. Q3, 5-0 vs. Q4.
After its 71-58 win against No. 2 Baylor on Feb. 27, KU is 7-6 versus ranked opponents this season and its 13 games are tied with Northwestern for the most in NCAA DI this season. KU’s seven wins are tied for the most in NCAA Division I with Iowa and Michigan.
KU has won 12 league games for the 21st consecutive season. Kansas has won 11 league games for the last 27 seasons and the current 27-year streak with 10-plus league wins is the longest active streak in the nation. Kansas has won 10 or more conference games 58 times overall.
Kansas leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense (40.4%) and three-point field goal percentage defense (32.1%).
Kansas is the only Big 12 team that has five players averaging double-figure scoring.
Five Jayhawks earned All-Big 12 honors as selected by the league coaches highlighted by junior David McCormack being named the conference’s Most Improved Player.
are second overall in the Big 12. He has six double-doubles in the last eight games.

KANSAS AT THE PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

Kansas won the first three Big 12 Championships in 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 five times (2001-05-06-08-21), 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. In 2019, Devon Dotson and Dedric Lawson were all-tournament selections.

UP NEXT

Should Kansas win its quarterfinal contest, Kansas will play the winner of the Texas-Texas Tech quarterfinal on Friday, March 12, at 8:30 p.m. (Central). Kansas is 22-16 all-time in league tournament semifinals, including 14-6 in the Big 12 Championship semis.