LAWRENCE, Kan. - Naadir Tharpe had 19 points to lead five Kansas players who scored 10 or more points, and the fifth-ranked Jayhawks held off Oklahoma 83-75 on Monday night to wrap up a share of their 10th consecutive Big 12 championship.
Wayne Selden and Andrew Wiggins added 15 points each, and Joel Embiid had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Jayhawks (22-6, 13-2), who poured off the bench at the buzzer to celebrate their 57th conference title, the most of any team in the country.
Only two schools in men’s Division I basketball have won more consecutive conference titles than Kansas: UCLA won 13 consecutive from 1967-79 in the Pac-10, and Gonzaga won 11 consecutive in the West Coast Conference from 2001-2011.
Cameron Clark had 18 points and Buddy Hield finished with 16 for the Sooners (20-8, 9-6), who have lost 12 of their past 13 games against the Jayhawks, including both this season.
Clark’s hot shooting and a couple of timely three-pointers by Hield gave Oklahoma the lead, but Wiggins scored on a putback of his own miss with 8:01 left to give the Jayhawks a 60-59 lead, and their advantage grew to 69-63 a few minutes later.
The Sooners, who trailed 42-33 at halftime, kept finding answers. When Wiggins hit a three-pointer to make it 74-66, Isaiah Cousins promptly scored inside. When Tharpe got a home-rim bounce on a pull-up jumper, Hield was there to hit a fall-away three-pointer to close within 76-71 with 1:30 left.
Sports, Pages 19 on 02/25/2014