KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ochai Agbaji’s most productive game as a University of Kansas basketball player came at a perfect time — in the best possible place — his hometown of Kansas City.
“It feels great. My family got to watch it. I couldn’t be any happier,” Agbaji, KU’s 6-foot-5, 215-pound junior wing out of Oak Park High School, said after scoring a career-high 26 points, 20 in the second half, in the No. 11-ranked Jayhawks’ 69-62 victory over No. 25 Oklahoma in a Big 12 quarterfinal contest on Thursday at T-Mobile Center.
Agbaji, who had early foul trouble that limited him to 12 minutes (and six points) the first half, was a huge factor in KU (20-8) managing to (barely) stay ahead of the Sooners (15-10), who sliced a 23-point first-half deficit to three points with 3 minutes, 30 seconds to play.
Agbaji exploded for 14 consecutive points for KU during a four-minute span of the final half.
His basket and free throw extended a 48-43 lead to 51-43 with 9:12 to play. After an inside bucket off an in-bounds feed from Dajuan Harris (four points, five assists, four steals, 29 minutes), Agbaji hit three deep 3-pointers that provided KU a 62-54 lead with 5:20 left.
“What ‘Och’ did tonight was as good of a stretch as I’ve seen a player have in a long time for us,” KU coach Bill Self said after the victory — one that propelled the Jayhawks into an 8:30 p.m., semifinal game Friday against either Texas Tech or Texas.
Agbaji — he was joined in double-figures by Marcus Garrett (17 points, five rebounds, four assists) and Mitch Lightfoot (11 points, four boards) — surpassed his previous high of 24 points scored against Texas on Jan. 29, 2019 in Austin, Texas.
The 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting (4 of 8 from three and 4 of 4 from the line) helped KU win in the absence of junior forward David McCormack, who missed his first game of the season because of COVID-19 protocols.
McCormack and his roommate, Tristan Enaruna, will sit out the entire Big 12 tourney, but are expected to be back for the NCAAs, Self said earlier in the week and again after Thursday’s win.
“No I wouldn’t say I feel pressured by that,” Agbaji said of replacing McCormack’s points.
Of his torrid streak in the final half, which came right after he fell on his shoulder after getting tangled with a Sooner player, Agbaji said: “I was feeling it for a second there, confident in looking for my shot. When I had space I was going to shoot it.”
Agbaji played the entire second half.
He and Garrett combined for 43 points on 16-of-26 shooting, while the other three starters — Jalen Wilson, Christian Braun and Bryce Thompson — were a combined 3 of 18 from the field for 11 points.
Wilson had nine points, nine rebounds, while Braun had zero points and three boards in 28 minutes. Lightfoot came off the bench to hit 5 of 10 shots, including a 3 in the first half — a half in which KU outscored OU 35-15.
“I told Mitch he was going to play great,” Self said of senior forward Lightfoot. Self said Lightfoot would have started instead of Thompson had OU opened with center Kur Kuath instead of a smaller guard-oriented lineup
“Mitch told me, ‘Coach I’m going to play well.’ I believed him.” Self added.
Of his play, Lightfoot, who entered 1 of 5 from 3 on the season, said: “Obviously we’re missing David. He’s a huge piece of our team. I need to go out there and give us an inside presence. I wasn’t trying to replace his shots. I look forward to when he comes back, in the meantime make sure we’re winning when he gets back here.”
Of his going 1 of 2 from 3, Lightfoot said: “I wouldn’t say green light, (but) I shoot that in practice. I can do it in the game.”
Self said he did address the absence of McCormack in talks with the team before the quarterfinals game.
“I didn’t say anything other than, ‘Hey we played some of our best ball first semester without David. We beat some teams basically playing small without David.’ We haven’t played small much. We played well the first half against Texas (in overtime loss on Feb. 23) playing without David and Mitch. We’ve shown we can do it some. I don’t think it (McCormack absence) was something they (players) thought, ‘Oh no,’ but (they thought), ‘It’s going to be a little harder now.’ It’s good for us and I think good for the (NCAA Tournament) committee to probably see we can play really well and not have David and Tristan even though they’ll both be back next week,” Self stated.
