KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Jayhawks will get to play another game in the 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship after a 98-94 overtime win against the UCF Knights Wednesday night.
Zeke Mayo got the scoring started early with eight unanswered points, leading to a UCF timeout less than three minutes into the game.
After that scoring outburst, the Knights offense settled in and made it a 14-13 game after forcing Hunter Dickinson to turn the ball over.
Flory Bidunga’s offensive rebound and tip in gave KU a 20-16 advantage heading into the under 12 timeout.
UCF would not go away though, tying the game at 22 after a free throw made by Keyshawn Hall.
Then Mayo got back in the scoring column, hitting another three to give KU the lead with under eight minutes left to go in the first half.
AJ Storr’s three pointer pushed the Jayhawks' lead to seven late in the first half. He finished the opening half with nine points as KU entered halftime with a 40-37 advantage.
The second half was defined by Dickinson, who went 4-5 and grabbed four rebounds in the first six minutes to stretch KU’s lead to 10.
After AJ Storr made his third three-pointer to put Kansas up 13, UCF began to chip away at the lead.
A barrage of threes sparked a 17-3 run by the Knights, giving them their first lead of the night and forcing a Kansas timeout with 9:20 to go in the game.
A Dickinson jump hook gave the Jayhawks the lead less than three minutes later and an emphatic slam dunk by KJ Adams right after led to a UCF timeout.
The lead went up to four for KU after Mayo’s stepback three but was relinquished after a quick 5-0 spurt from UCF.
The Jayhawks then took the lead back with two free throws from Mayo with less than three minutes to go.
Kansas continued to lead until Jordan Ivy-Curry’s three-pointer tied the game with 14 seconds left.
UCF would get one last possession to win the game after Adams stepped out of bounds but a moving three from Ivy-Curry would not fall.
An extra five minutes in Kansas City it is then.
Dickinson hit his third three of the night, breaking the tie less than a minute into overtime.
Free throws kept Kansas in front and buckets from Dickinson and Storr upped the lead to five with 1:18 to go.
UCF continued to make it close but could not take the lead back from Kansas, losing 98-94 in overtime.
Dickinson finished the game with 23 points and 13 rebounds after a slow start while Mayo had 24 points and 8 rebounds.
Storr and Adams finished with double figures as well, scoring 19 and 15 respectively.
Storr's 19 points are the most he's ever scored in a Kansas uniform.
—
