LAWRENCE, Kan. — No. 13-ranked Kansas, which defeated then-No. 2-ranked Baylor by 13 points on Saturday night at Allen Fieldhouse, entered Thursday’s add-on home game against unheralded UTEP as 17-point favorites.
In a shocking development, the Jayhawks (18-9) came out flat. They trailed by 11 points early, 12 points at the final TV time out of the first half and 34-20 at halftime before rallying to claim a 67-62 victory in the regular-season finale for both teams. The Jayhawks actually trailed by as many as 15 points with 14 1/2 minutes to go.
Ochai Agbaji scored 19 points and David McCormack scored 18 for the Jayhawks, who have won seven of eight games entering next week’s Big 12 tournament.
Marcus Garrett hit a layup to break a tie with 22.4 seconds left and contributed 11 points as KU prevailed in a nonconference game added to the schedule on Feb. 25. KU elected to play a game to break up what would otherwise have been an 11-day layoff entering the start of the Big 12 Tournament on March 10 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
The Jayhawks won their 20th straight nonconference game at Allen Fieldhouse. The last nonconference loss was to Arizona State, 95-85 on Dec. 10, 2017.
Bryson Williams scored 23 points and Souley Boum added 16 for UTEP (12-11), which entered the game 3-1 all-time versus KU. The Jayhawks now can even the all-time set 3-3 if they win next year’s matchup, which also is set to be contested at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU snapped the Miners’ four-game winning streak.
Williams scored 13 points and Boum 11 the first half as UTEP led 34-20 at halftime. The Miners hit 14 of 34 shots for 41.2%. They hit 4 of 12 three-pointers.
KU’s offense was abysmal. Agbaji had 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. His teammates scored 10 points on 4-of-21 shooting. KU went 2 of 9 from three in the half and 2 of 4 from the free-throw line. UTEP, which was led by Williams’ eight rebounds, out-boarded KU, 23-18, the first 20 minutes.
McCormack had two points on 1-of-6 shooting in the half. Jalen Wilson was 0 for 3, Marcus Garrett 1 of 4, Christian Braun 1 of 4 and Bryce Thompson 1 of 3.
UTEP expanded the lead to 38-23 at 18:20 and led 44-29 at 15:40. KU trailed 48-33 with 14:31 left, then went on an 11-2 run to slice the gap to 50-44 at 9:26. KU had a chance to cut it to four, but Thompson had a shot blocked inside. Jamal Bieniemy then hit a three fro UTEP that pushed the lead back to 53-44 at 8:31.
It was 55-46 at 7:59 when McCormack scored eight straight and made it 55-54 at 5:52.
Agbaji tied the game at 59-59 on a three with 3:45 left. McCormack gave KU the lead at 61-60 by scoring inside at 2:41. He hit a free throw to make it 62-60. Boum hit two free throws to tie it at 62-62.
Garrett hit a driving layup to give KU a 64-62 lead at 22.4. UTEP then committed a turnover. Dajuan Harris was fouled and hit two free throws at 17.5 to ice the game.
