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Sports

Cyclones eye Jayhawks in Big 12 title match

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - The ninth-ranked Kansas Jayhawks take aim at a 10th Big 12 title on Saturday when they host No. 13 Iowa State in the championship game at the Sprint Center.

Top-seeded Kansas advanced to the title game for the 11th time in the 19-year history of the event on Friday, as Wayne Selden Jr. had 20 points and eight rebounds to carry the Jayhawks past Baylor, 62-52.

Perry Ellis, Kansas' leading scorer, returned from missing two games with a sprained right knee to chip in 11 points and six rebounds. Kelly Oubre Jr. had nine points and five boards for the Jayhawks, who haven't won this tournament since knocking off Kansas State in 2013.

Kansas has won four of its last five games.

Iowa State, meanwhile, is back in the championship game for the second straight year after it survived its semifinal game with Oklahoma on Friday. The Cyclones appeared headed toward overtime with the Sooners, as Oklahoma's Ryan Spangler went up for a game-tying layup in the dying seconds of regulation, but the ball slipped out of his hand, and Iowa State survived for a 67-65 victory.

Georges Niang had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists for second-seeded Iowa State, which beat Baylor last year to capture its second Big 12 Tournament title.

Jameel McKay scored 12 with nine rebounds and came up with two key blocks late for the Cyclones, who also got 11 points from Monte Morris, the hero in their last- second quarterfinal victory over Texas.

Iowa State, which has won four in a row and seven of its last nine overall, is in back-to-back postseason conference tournament title games since 1995 and 1996.

A win on Saturday would give the Cyclones their third conference crown.

Kansas split its two meetings with the Cyclones during the season, but holds a 6-3 edge over them in the conference tournament. Iowa State, though, beat the Jayhawks in the semifinal round of this tourney a year ago.

This is the fifth time these two schools will play in the Big 12 championship game. Kansas has won three of those previous matchups.

After getting a bit of a scare from TCU in the quarterfinals, Kansas again seemed in for a dogfight when Baylor cut the lead to four with 11:12 left in the game. However, the Jayhawks scored the next 10 points and eventually went up by as many as 15.

Kansas scores 71.4 points per game and has a +6.8 scoring margin. The Jayhawks average 38.1 rebounds per game and have a +3.8 rebound margin. KU also averages 13.4 assists, 6.7 steals and 5.2 blocked shots per game.

Niang leads a group of Iowa State scorers averaging double figures in terms of scoring at 15.3 ppg. As a unit, ISU is netting 78.6 ppg on 48.2 percent shooting. In all, five players are averaging at least 10.0 ppg this season.