KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas center Ernest Udeh Jr. clapped his arms enthusiastically as he galloped away from the basket.
The freshman had just risen between two Iowa State defenders, caught a Dajuan Harris lob pass and finished the dunk in traffic.
The KU fans inside T-Mobile Center stood and roared. The dunk put Kansas back up two possessions — five points — just minutes after ISU had taken the lead.
ISU’s lead lasted all of 18 seconds, with KU answering with timely runs.
The No. 1-seeded Jayhawks (27-6, 13-5 Big 12) defeated No. 5 Iowa State, 71-58, in the Big 12 tournament semifinal round.
Jalen Wilson scored 25 points and Gradey Dick added 15 for the Jayhawks, who will play the winner of Texas and TCU in finals on Saturday at 5 p.m. It’ll be KU’s 16th appearance in the Big 12 tournament finals.
Jaren Holmes led Iowa State with 16 points on 5-for-15 shooting.
KU looked unstoppable early in the first half. Kansas raced to a 17-9 lead early, but Iowa State slowly found its footing. The Jayhawks went into the half up eight.
ISU went on a 14-5 run to start the second half to take its first lead at 39-38 with 14:03 left. Kansas responded with a 10-2 run over the next 2:55 of game time to regain control of the game.
KU guard Kevin McCullar came into the game dealing with back spasms but ultimately left at the 17:51 mark in the second half. He didn’t return.
Here are three takeaways from Friday’s game…
Jalen Wilson’s hot start
Wilson usually leads KU in scoring, but typically he doesn’t put up points as quickly as he did on Friday.
Wilson made his first four shots, scoring 11 points in about four minutes. Those four shots included some tough 3-pointers. The first shot he missed? A deep heat-check from 3-point range.
Wilson’s scoring helped KU gain an early lead against ISU.
In their last matchup, the forward was the only Kansas player to hit double-digit points (26). Between his play in that game and his start on Friday, the Cyclones seemed to realize they needed to adjust their defense quickly.
Iowa State started to double-team Wilson, especially in the corners, which caused a couple of turnovers and kept the ball out of his hands.
Still, Wilson finished with 15 points while shooting 6 for 10 from the floor in the first half. He added 10 more points in the second frame.
Finding extra points off turnovers
Iowa State is second in the nation in opposing turnover percentage (25.1). When Kansas played the Cyclones last, the Jayhawks had 20 turnovers, leading to 19 points for ISU.
KU did a little better on Friday.
Kansas finished with 17 turnovers compared to Iowa State’s 22. But the glaring statistic ... KU had a 19-point advantage in points off turnovers (25-6).
When the game was close in the second half, Kansas relied on forcing ISU turnovers and turning them into points to regain control.
Gradey Dick owns the second half
If any player on KU can get red-hot quickly, it’s freshman guard Dick.
Dick scored two points on 0-for-3 shooting in the first half, but it was a different story in the second half.
The guard would answer with a timely bucket whenever ISU threatened to gain momentum.
He finished with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the second half. That included a stretch where he scored two contested buckets — a 3 and a 2 — one after the other.
