KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Kansas basketball’s Big 12 Conference men’s tournament run ended Friday with a 69-47 loss in the semifinals against Houston.
The Jayhawks (23-10), the No. 3 seed, went into halftime having never led, and finished the game that way with this 22-point defeat. The Cougars (28-5), the No. 2 seed, weathered any runs from KU and earned an opportunity Saturday to play for the tournament title against No. 1 seed Arizona. Although freshman Darryn Peterson finished with 14 points for the Jayhawks, no other teammate finished in double figures in scoring.
Houston was led by a freshman duo of Chris Cenac Jr. and Kingston Flemings, with Cenac collecting 17 points and 14 rebounds and Flemings scoring 21 points. They helped the Cougars lead by as many as 24 points against Kansas, which saw its own offense struggle so much that it shot just 24.6% from the field during the game and 19.4% in the second half. Allowing second-chance points proved to be a problem for the Jayhawks, too, as Houston finished the game with a 14-6 advantage in that statistic despite KU grabbing more offensive rebounds.
Kansas now looks ahead to the NCAA tournament, and potentially a No. 4 seed. However the bracket plays out, the Jayhawks will be trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since it went on its national championship run back in 2022. Last season, KU exited in the round of 64 with a loss as the No. 7 seed against No. 10 seed Arkansas.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball’s Big 12 tournament run ends with loss vs Houston