LUBBOCK, Texas _ The Kansas men's basketball team won't be sharing the Big 12 regular season title with Baylor, or anybody else for that matter, this season.
The crown is KU's and KU's alone.
The No. 1-ranked Jayhawks, who assured themselves a tie for the 2019-20 championship with a victory over TCU on Wednesday, won the league outright by defeating Texas Tech, 66-62, on Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena.
Devon Dotson scored 17 points with seven rebounds and five assists and Udoka Azubuike added 15 points and 11 boards as KU (28-3, 17-1 Big 12) finished two games ahead of Baylor, which lost to West Virginia, 76-64, on Saturday to finish 15-3.
"We wanted to win it outright. We didn't want to share the title with anybody," Dotson said. "Coach before the game said, 'Do what we do.' At the end of the day we're playing basketball. We try to win every game."
Ochai Agbaji contributed 12 points for KU, which has now won 15 regular-season league titles in Bill Self's 17 seasons at KU. The Jayhawks shared the title in 2012-13 (Kansas State), 2007-08 (Texas), 2005-06 (Texas) and 2004-05 (Oklahoma).
"Tonight they guarded us well," Self said. "We guarded them well. We found a way to make a couple great individual plays late.
"That was fun for me. I don't know how Chris (Beard) feels; I'm sure he's down. Nobody ever wants to lose a hard fought competitive game like that.
"He should feel good about his team too. They are a good team. This didn't mean a lot as far as implications down the road. Hopefully both teams can build off this, press on and do well moving forward."
Marcus Garrett had nine points and nine boards for the Jayhawks. Davide Moretti scored 18 points and TJ Holyfield 11 for Texas Tech.
KU as the league's No. 1 seed, will play the winner of the Wednesday game between the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds in a Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal around 2 p.m. Thursday at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
KU, which held an eight-point halftime lead, trailed 44-43 with 10:44 left. Agbaji hit a 3-pointer, Garrett made a bucket and KU led 48-44 at 8:44.
Tech cut it to 48-46 on two free throws by Moretti. After Moss missed a 3, Dotson's layup gave KU a 50-46 lead at 7:00.
Kevin McCullar hit a 3 but Agbaji scored on an inbounds play and it was 52-49 KU at 5:50.
It was 54-51 KU following an inside shot by Agbaji at 4:17. Holyfield scored inside and KU led 55-54 at 2:39. Following an Azubuike bucket, Holyfield hit a 3 to tie the score at 57-57 at 2:00.
Azubuike dunked and Christian Braun hit a driving layup and KU led 61-57 at 1:26. McCullar scored on a layup at 1:04 to cut the margin to 61-59.
Garrett scored with the shot clock running down for a 63-59 KU lead at :33.4. Tech misfired on a 3 and KU rebounded at :19.8.
Dotson hit two free throws to make it 65-59 at :19.8. Moretti hit a 3 at :11.1 that cut the gap to 65-62.
Garrett then missed the front end of a one and one, but Moretti missed a 3 at 2.8 seconds. Garrett was fouled at 2.4 seconds and hit the front end to make it 66-62. He missed the second free throw but the game was over.
Dotson scored nine points and Azubuike added eight as KU grabbed a 32-24 halftime lead. KU used a 10-2 run to close the half and grab the eight-point lead at intermission. Isaiah Moss hit a 3, while David McCormack converted two free throws, Agbaji a dunk and Dotson a 3.
