TCU shocks No. 1 Kansas in Big 12 tournament

With standout freshman Josh Jackson suspended, the No. 1 Jayhawks lost 85-82 to TCU in Thursday’s second round of the Big 12 tournament – Kansas’ first game after a bye. Today they defeated the top ranked team in all the land, the Kansas Jayhawks 85-82 in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.

It wasn’t enough because TCU went on a 33-10 tear that started with 3:35 left in the first half and became an 11-point lead with 13:57 left in the game. The Jayhawks had a 4-point lead with two minutes left in the game, but the key play of the game happened with less than 10 seconds left.

Robinson added a 3-pointer, Brodziansky scored while getting fouled and Williams finally capped a 15-2 charge with a basket just before the buzzer that gave the Horned Frogs a 44-31 advantage.

View a gallery of images from Thursday’s game between the Jayhawks and Horned Frogs at Sprint Center.

The reality is that the Jayhawks should be plenty motivated for the NCAA tournament, regardless of their experience in Kansas City.

It was the old Big Eight, it was the 1977-78 season and it was Missouri, coached by Norm Stewart, which entered the postseason tourney with an 11-15 overall record, a 4-10 conference mark, even a string of six losses in seven games … and went out and won the thing, guess where, in Kansas City. The point, coupled with a free throw by Lucas, gave Kansas a 77-76 lead. Robinson worked the clock down to under five seconds when he drove into the lane drawing the help defender and finding Desmond Bane in the corner for the go-ahead three-pointer.

TCU senior guard Brandon Parrish played in his 130th game for the Horned Frogs, which makes him the all-time leader in games played in program history. That’s a heck of an accomplishment and even more impressive this year, where upwards of seven teams (especially after TCU’s win) could be in line to make the Big Dance. The Big 12 tournament champions in 2015 (Iowa State) and 2012 (Missouri) were gone from March after one game in the NCAA tournament, Iowa State falling to UAB as a No. 3 seed and Missouri to Norfolk State as a No. 2.

Mason again was spectacular in rallying Kansas back from another deficit and TCU answered way too many of his twisting-and-turning drives for buckets and pull-up 3-pointers with points of their own. But it didn’t have the same effect, at least right away – the Horned Frogs instead stretched their lead to 60-49 with 13:55 left.

TCU will play No. 23 Iowa State in Friday night’s semifinals.

“That under-4 timeout in the first half, from that point on it seemed TCU dictated it”, Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said.

One man’s loss is another’s glory as the outcome of Thursday’s game has opened the door, and seats, for some very excited Iowa State fans. Frank Mason III finished with a game-high 29, but Kansas’ bench managed just three whole points. Before Thursday, the Jayhawks were 9-2 this year in games decided by five points or fewer and 5-0 since February 6.

As a team, Kansas was led by Mason. Texas Tech’s Kasib Powell had the only one in Big 12 tournament play against Texas in 2003.