Courtesy of Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Ochai Agbaji scored 20 points and David McCormack posted a double-double to lift the Kansas Jayhawks past the Oklahoma State Cowboys, 76-62, on Monday night at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks improved to 21-4 with the win and 10-2 in Big 12 Conference play. Oklahoma State dropped to 12-13 overall and 5-8 in the league.
The game got off to a slow start with both teams struggling to score from the floor. When Oklahoma State’s Moussa Cisse converted on a dunk with 9:36 to play in the first half, it gave the Cowboys an 11-10 lead in a game that featured just 21 total points in more than 10 minutes of play.
From that point, however, Kansas had no problem getting the offense going and took control of the game. Christian Braun hit a jumper 22 seconds after Cisse’s dunk, giving Kansas a 12-11 lead. The Jayhawks would never trail again.
The lead was pushed to nine when Agbaji hit a 3-pointer with 5:50 left to make it 26-17 in favor of Kansas. The Cowboys cut it to five with 2:23 left in the first half when Cisse hit a jumper to make it 31-26. McCormack then scored six straight points, however, to push the lead to 11 at 37-26 with less than a minute to play in the half. Following a free throw from Braun, Oklahoma State’s Tyreek Smith hit a layup with seven seconds left to make the lead 10 for the Jayhawks at the break.
Agbaji had 11 points and five rebounds in the first half to lead Kansas, while McCormack had eight points and eight rebounds. The Jayhawks controlled the glass in the first as well, outrebounding the Cowboys 27-18.
In the second half, Kansas maintained a double-digit lead throughout the game’s final 20 minutes. Following a basket Dajuan Harris to open the second, the closest Oklahoma State got was 11 points when Bryce Williams hit a 3-pointer with 15:39 to play to make it 48-37 in favor of Kansas.
But Kansas went on a 20-5 run from that point to build the lead to 26 points at 68-42. Braun finished a fast break with a dunk from teammate Joseph Yesufu to cap the run and build the lead to 26. Kansas led by 22 with two minutes to go, before Oklahoma State finished the game on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 14.
McCormack posted his sixth double-double of the season, posting 12 points and 12 rebounds in 28 minutes of action. Braun finished with 16 points in a team-high 36 minutes, while Harris had 12 points and a team-high five assists. Jalen Wilson had 11 points and seven rebounds in the win.
Up Next:
The Jayhawks will return to action Saturday at West Virginia. The game is set for a 7 p.m., tipoff on ESPN.
