Kansas' men's basketball fans certainly enjoyed the play of the fastbreaking Jayhawks, who raced to a 15-point lead nine minutes into Thursday's Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal at T-Mobile Center.
The same can't be said of veteran West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. He picked up a pair of technical fouls following a technical call on WVU guard Taz Sherman and was ejected with 9:58 remaining in the first half of KU's 87-63 victory.
KU's Jalen Wilson hit five of six technical foul shots, giving KU a 24-4 lead. Wilson finished with 15 points and five boards for the No. 6-ranked and top-seeded Jayhawks (26-6), who advanced into Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal matchup against No. 5 seed TCU, a 65-60 winner over Texas in Thursday's quarterfinals.
Huggins headed to the locker room after a game-opening stretch in which ninth-seeded WVU made one of its first 16 shots to KU's 8 of 13 mark. Assistant coach Larry Harrison coached the Mountaineers (16-17) the rest of the game.
WVU's season is over, while Kansas' quest for a Big 12 Tournament championship and a possible No. 1 seed in next week's NCAA Tournament both remain in play.
Ochai Agbaji scored 18 points, while Christian Braun added 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for KU. Dajuan Harris had seven assists to go with six points. He put down a breakaway dunk late in the game. Malik Curry had 19 points for WVU.
KU hit 33 of 63 floor shots for 52.4% and went 6 of 18 from three. WVU hit 19 of 58 shots for 32.8% and made 6 of 14 threes.
Agbaji, who scored nine of KU's first 13 points as the Jayhawks opened a 13-2 lead, finished with 11 points the first half. Wilson, who knocked down those five technical foul shots, had 10 points. David McCormack, who picked up two fouls early, played four minutes the initial half. For the game he had nine points and five boards in just 10 minutes.
Lightfoot had eight points in 11 minutes the first half. He also had three blocks. He finished with 10 points, five rebounds and five blocked shots.
West Virginia, which defeated Kansas State in Wednesday night's first-round game, hit 5 of 31 shots in the half for 16.1%.
West Virginia in the second half managed to cut the deficit to 15 points (52-37) with 14:11 left. It was 14 points (57-43) following a pair of WVU layups at 11:17. Up 59-43 at 10:42, KU outscored WVU 7-2 and led 66-45 at 7:59. Harris and Joseph Yesufu had buckets and Jalen Coleman-Lands a three.
