KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Thanks in large part to backup forward Mitch Lightfoot, No. 6-ranked Kansas has advanced to the finals of the Big 12 tournament for the first time since 2019.
The Jayhawks, who claimed their last postseason league crown in 2018, followed a quarterfinal rout of West Virginia with a 75-62 victory over TCU in Friday’s semifinals at T-Mobile Center.
Lightfoot, a sixth-year forward, on Friday scored a career-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting with five rebounds, two steals and two blocks for KU (27-6), which will play either Oklahoma or Texas Tech in Saturday’s 5 p.m. final.
Lightfoot’s old high in scoring was 14 points against George Mason earlier this season and again 14 versus Omaha in 2020.
The 6-foot-8, 225-pound Lightfoot — he entered the game with no 3-point attempts on the season — went 1 for 2 from beyond the arc against TCU. He entered the contest 12 of 38 from 3 for his career.
He scored 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting with five blocked shots (one off a career high) and five rebounds in Thursday’s quarterfinals against West Virginia, meaning he has a chance of making the all-tournament team, especially if KU wins the event.
Ochai Agbaji contributed 22 points (including a vicious one-handed dunk in the second half that had Lightfoot leaping for joy on the bench) on 9-of-17 shooting while reserve guard Remy Martin had 10 points in 19 minutes for KU, which is playing as if it is hungry for a Big 12 crown after dropping out of the 2021 event after one game because of COVID-19 issues in the program.
The event was called off in 2020 because of the pandemic. In 2019, the Jayhawks defeated Texas and West Virginia and lost to Iowa State in the title game
Christian Braun finished with nine points and six boards and Jalen Wilson nine points and five assists. Chuck O’Bannon had 15 points and seven boards and Mike Miles 14 points for TCU.
Agbaji scored 13 points, Braun seven and Lightfoot six the first half as the Jayhawks led 44-30 at the break. Miles had eight and Lampkin seven for TCU, which trailed Texas by 18 points at halftime in its quarterfinal win over the Longhorns on Thursday.
Down 9-7 early, KU went on 11-0 run that included two baskets from Lightfoot an Agbaji jam off a lob from Martin, a Braun 3 and a Wilson 2. KU led 18-9 KU at 12:20.
The Jayhawks led, 44-25, with 1:15 left in the half. TCU outscored the Jayhawks, 5-0, to cut the gap to 14. KU had the lead at a comfortable 20 points (72-52) with 6:10 to play.
