OU and Kansas Square Off in Quarterfinals

Thursday, March 11

Kansas City, Mo.

5:30 PM

University of Oklahoma

Kansas

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Photo by: Denny Medley\Big 12 Conference

OU and Kansas Square Off in Quarterfinals

March 11, 2021 | Men's Basketball

ESPN Listen Live In the Booth Live Stats OU's First Round Win Inside Access

By: Ben Coldagelli

^25/24 Oklahoma

^11/12 Kansas

Thursday, March 11 / 5:30 p.m. CT / T-Mobile Center / Kansas City, Mo.

Tickets / ESPN / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes

NORMAN – Coming off a victory in the first round, No. 25/24 Oklahoma (15-9, 9-8 Big 12) has a quick turnaround when it faces No. 11/12 Kansas (19-8, 12-6) in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship on Thursday.

The Sooners and Jayhawks split the regular-season series and are facing each other in the postseason for the first time in almost 15 years.

The Sooners played some of their best defense of the year in their two matchups with the Jayhawks, and OU's guard-heavy lineup will now face the Jayhawks without KU center David McCormack (13.4 points, 6.1 rebounds). OU senior guard Austin Reaves has scored at least 20 points in five of his last seven outings and the All-Big 12 First Team point guard will look to lead the Sooners to their first Big 12 Championship semifinals appearance since 2016.

ON THE AIR

• The quarterfinals matchup will air on the Sooner Radio Network (107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Tune In Radio App) with Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry announcing.

• ESPN will carry the television broadcast with Bob Wischusen, Fran Fraschilla and Holly Rowe on the call. Fans with proper cable verification can stream the game using the Watch ESPN app.

THREE POINTERS

• Oklahoma overcame two losing streaks on Wednesday, snapping the four-game losing streak that closed the regular season while also winning its first Big 12 Championship game since 2016. The Sooners were led to the win over Iowa State by Austin Reaves (21 points), De'Vion Harmon (18 points) and Elijah Harkless (12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and five steals). Harkless is just the second Division I player to produce at least 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals in a conference tournament game in the last 25 years.

• The Sooners will face a top-15 opponent for the 11th time this season and is 5-5 on the year in those matchups. With the Kansas matchup, an incredible 44% of Oklahoma's games this season will have come against teams ranked in the top-15 at the time of competition. Oklahoma's five wins over top-15 teams in the regular season were tied with Kansas and Ohio State for the most in the country.

• A victory on Thursday would give Oklahoma its first semifinals appearance at the Big 12 Championship since 2016 when the No. 3-seeded Sooners defeated Iowa State in the quarterfinals before falling to No. 2-seeded West Virginia after a would-be game-winner from Buddy Hield was reviewed and overturned after the final buzzer.

SERIES HISTORY: KANSAS

• Kansas is the only Big 12 team with a winning all-time record against the Sooners, leading the series 151-69.

• The teams split the regular-season series with the home team winning each matchup. Kansas topped the Sooners in a down-to-the-wire matchup inside Allen Fieldhouse (OU was playing without Brady Manek and Jalen Hill) before Oklahoma evened the series with a win in Norman exactly two weeks later.

• The Sooners and Jayhawks haven't met in the postseason since 2007 in the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City. The last time Oklahoma faced Kansas in Kansas City was the championship game of the 2002 Big 12 Tournament, where No. 4-ranked Oklahoma upset No. 1 KU to claim the conference crown at Kemper Arena.

• Should the Sooners be victorious on Thursday, it will be their first season with multiple wins over the Jayhawks since 1989-90 when the late Billy Tubbs guided Oklahoma to wins over Kansas in Norman and the semifinals of the Big Eight Tournament.

• Not one, but two Sooners are high school teammates of Jayhawk players. OU sophomore guard De'Vion Harmon grew up playing with KU redshirt freshman forward Jalen Wilson at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas. Sooner freshman guard Trey Phipps and Kansas freshman guard Bryce Thompson were teammates at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa. Kur Kuath

OU'S BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

• OU won postseason Big 12 Championship titles in 2001, 2002 and 2003. OU's three titles rank third in the conference behind Kansas' 10 and Iowa State's four. The Sooners have made five Big 12 Championship title game appearances in the event's 22 years. OU's 10 consecutive league tournament game victories (2001-04) are tied with Kansas for the most in event history.

• The Sooners are 23-20 all-time in the Big 12 Championship.

LOOKING BACK AT OU'S FIRST ROUND WIN

• Oklahoma advanced in the Big 12 Championship with a first-round win over Iowa State on Wednesday. The victory was Oklahoma's first in the Big 12 Championship since 2016.

• Senior guard Austin Reaves led the Sooners with 21 points, five rebounds and three assists. Reaves has registered at least 20 points in five of his last seven games. Fourteen of his points came in the second half.

• Oklahoma shot 50% from the field in the victory, its best shooting percentage since Feb. 6, also against Iowa State.

• The Sooners led by as many as 19 late in the second half before the Cyclones used a late run and hot 3-point shooting to narrow the gap.

• Sophomore guard De'Vion Harmon shot an efficient 8-of-12 from the field and scored 18 points.

• Junior guard Elijah Harkless stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and five steals. He is the only major-conference player to post that stat line or better in a conference tournament game in at least 25 years.

• Oklahoma outrebounded the Cyclones 36-35, pulling down its most boards since Feb. 20 at Iowa State. The Sooners had grabbed under 30 rebounds in each of their last four games.

QUICK HITS

• Oklahoma entered the Big 12 Championship as the No. 25 team in the country. The Sooners finished the regular season in sixth place in the league and will compete as the No. 7 seed after losing the seeding tiebreaker to Texas Tech.

• The Big 12 Championship may be the most entertaining postseason conference tournament, with 70% of the league currently ranked in the Top 25.

• Two Sooners earned All-Big 12 honors on Monday when the conference announced Austin Reaves as an All-Big 12 First Team selection and De'Vion Harmon as an honorable mention. Reaves – the third Sooner in four years to make the five-player First Team (joining Trae Young and Kristian Doolittle) – entered the postseason ranked second in the league in scoring (17.5 points), third in assists (4.9), 12th in rebounds (5.7) and first in free throw percentage (87.1%). He is the only player in Big 12 history to average at least 18.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists during league play.

• One of the most improved players in the league, Harmon has nearly doubled his scoring average from last season by producing 13.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.1 steals and shooting 47.1% from the field. He scored 7.4 points per game and shot 36.4% as a freshman. Harmon has scored in double figures in 12 of his last 13 games and boasts four games of at least 20 points this season.

• The Sooners entered the postseason on a four-game losing streak, falling in each of those four games by five or fewer points. In order to find success in Kansas City, OU will need to find ways to be more aggressive on the glass. During OU's four-game losing streak, the Sooners were outrebounded an average of 36.3 to 26.8. Prior to the streak, the Sooners were averaging 37.8 rebounds per game on the season. OU won the rebounding battle with Iowa State 36-35 in its opening-round win. Oklahoma is 14-0 this season when it grabs at least 31 rebounds and 1-9 when it pulls down 30 or fewer.

• Oklahoma has made six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments (since Lon Kruger's second year). Oklahoma is one of only three Big 12 schools with at least six NCAA Tournament appearances during that span, joined only by Iowa State and Kansas. Oklahoma was on the verge of another trip to the Big Dance in 2020 before the event was cancelled due to COVID-19 and is hopeful to hear its name called yet again this Selection Sunday. Duke, Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina and Villanova are the only major-conference schools who have made it to more NCAA Tournaments than the Sooners since 2013.

UP NEXT: BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS

• Should Oklahoma defeat Kansas, the Sooners will advance to the semifinals to face either Texas or Texas Tech. The matchup would tip at 8:30 p.m. CT on Friday.

• Oklahoma split the regular-season series with Texas with the road team stealing each game. Texas Tech swept the Sooners. All four games between OU and the Longhorns and Red Raiders were decided by five or fewer points.

• The Sooners haven't faced Texas Tech in the postseason since 2005 and last faced Texas in the Big 12 Championship in 2011.