Many wanted more than the one scheduled matchup between Kansas and Arizona that took place at Lawrence, Kan., on Saturday in the Big 12 slate.
They’ll get another game Thursday, although Kansas will be close to home and not in Tucson in the second game pitting the No. 6 Jayhawks (21-11) and No. 3 Wildcats (20-11) against each other in the Big 12 quarterfinals.
Tipoff is at 6:30 p.m., Tucson time, at Kansas City, Mo., which is only 40 miles from Lawrence (ESPN will televise the game).
Despite playing Kansas on Senior Night with more than 15,000 fans at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, Arizona was still in good position to win, down by only three points with 2:44 left.
The Jayhawks pulled away with an 8-2 run in their 83-76 victory.
“It’s going to be a challenge because they’ve got really good guys and they’ve got a really good team,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Wednesday night about Arizona after the Jayhawks outlasted No. 14 UCF 98-94 in overtime in the second-round matchup.
“I actually thought on Saturday we had four seniors play very, very, very well, and it was barely enough in our building. So it’s going to take a great energy-type game. We’re going to have to play big, obviously, (with 7-foot-2 center Hunter Dickinson matching a career-high 33 points in the win over Arizona) and and we’ve got to be able to guard the ball, probably better than we did on Saturday.”
Arizona shot 53.6 percent from the field, including an uncommon 4 of 7 from 3-point range, in the second half against the Jayhawks on Saturday.
Jaden Bradley had 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line.
Caleb Love finished with 16 points, exhibiting more confidence with his shooting (5 of 12 from the field, 2 of 4 from beyond the arc and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line).
A reporter asked Self what are the disadvantages or advantages for Kansas with its preparation after playing Arizona less than a week ago.
He suggested that less than 24 hours in between playing UCF and Arizona is not a detriment for his team because the matchup with the Wildcats took place only five days previously.
“The benefit is — when we get back (to the hotel) at midnight and we have dinner at 12:30 and then get up tomorrow morning — the benefit is, from a preparation standpoint, they’re going to be more familiar with it than, at least I think they will be, than what we normally would be,” Self said of his team. “I think that’s the benefit, if anything.”
Zeke Mayo led Kansas with 24 points in the win over UCF. That included a 7-of-8 performance from the free-throw line and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc — his same stat from 3-point range against Arizona.
Wisconsin transfer A.J. Storr, who did not score in seven minutes against Arizona, finished with a season-high 19 points before fouling out against UCF.
Dickinson had 23 points and 13 rebounds.
In the win over Arizona, Dickinson, Mayo and KJ Adams (12 points and eight rebounds) were the catalysts.
Mayo finished with 20 points and six assists with no turnovers in 34 minutes against the Wildcats.
“It’s just honestly about my confidence and being aggressive early,” Mayo said of his 10-of-14 performance from 3-point range in the last two games (he is shooting 40.1 percent from there this season). “Obviously, seeing that first one go down helps a lot. Seeing the ball go through the back of the basket gave me a bunch of confidence throughout the rest of the game.
“I mean, Arizona is going to play me how they decide to play me. And I mean, that’s that.”
Self sounded as if he was most concerned about how Kansas will defend Arizona after the Jayhawks allowed UCF to shoot 45.6 percent from the field and make 14 3-pointers (out of 33 attempts).
Kansas had more turnovers (16) than UCF (14).
“We didn’t play the scouting report (against the Knights); I thought their players got to their strong hand way too often,” Self said.
He added that Kansas’ defense was lacking with “our bad switches and not getting to shooters and then over-guarding non-shooters and certainly not being in good help position when guys drove it.”
Keyshawn Hall finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds for UCF.
“It’s not really fair to the guy that’s playing one one-on-one to say, ‘Hey, go stop Keshawn Hall,'” Self said. “They need to feel like they’re being guarded from either side, and I didn’t think we did a good job of that at all tonight.”
The matchup between Kansas and Arizona will be the first in the postseason since the Jayhawks defeated the Wildcats 78-75 in the 2003 Elite Eight at Anaheim, Calif.
Arizona is 1-2 against the Jayhawks in the postseason with the one victory one of the greatest in program history.
The Wildcats defeated No. 1 Kansas 85-82 in the Sweet 16 in 1997 at Birmingham, Ala., en route to their national title. It was only the second loss of the season for the Jayhawks, who finished 34-2.
Kansas beat Arizona 83-80 the previous season in the Sweet 16 at Denver.
All three postseason matchups down to the wire, decided by three points. Thursday’s Big 12 quarterfinal game figures to be just as competitive.
“We know we had McKale North playing in (Las) Vegas all those years (in the Pac-12 tournament),” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said after the loss at Kansas. “I would imagine that Kansas and Iowa State are going to kind of own the arena (at Kansas City). But we’re here for it. We’re here to compete. We’re in the Big 12, that’s where the conference tournament is, so we’re going to show up like everyone else.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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