By Wendell Barnhouse
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – If you’re a sales person specializing in duct tape or super adhesives, you might want to place a call to Bill Self.
Playing another game without leading scorer Perry Ellis and with the front court battling foul trouble, top-seeded Kansas managed to survive an upset bid by No. 9 seed TCU. The Jayhawks got a career-high 25 points from freshman Kelly Oubre to post a 64-59 victory Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Championship.
Kansas (25-7) advances to the semifinals and will take on fourth-seeded Baylor Saturday. The Bears advanced with an 80-70 victory over No. 4 seed West Virginia.
“I think we're finding a way to piece it together right now,” Self said. “And that's not a great way to go into the postseason. “
The Jayhawks swept the season series with the Horned Frogs (18-15) but the total point differential was 12 points. TCU was trying to become the first No. 9 seed since Baylor in 2009 to advance to the semifinals but Oubre proved too much to handle.
"This game, we wanted to show we could handle their punches, and they threw a lot of them,” he said. “We withstood them."
Kenrich Williams’ 3-pointer – the only one made by either team – tied the game at 47-all with 8:34 remaining. Oubre then scored 12 of his team’s next 14 points with eight coming at the line. The Jayhawks were playing a four-guard lineup out of necessity and that created a matchup problem for TCU, which had post Chris Washburn checking Oubre.
“Within our offense the lanes were opening up, so the play was to drive and kick,” said Oubre, who was 15-of-19 at the line. “But I had a bigger, slower guy on me, so I took him and got fouled.”
Even with Oubre taking over, TCU wasn’t out of the game until the final minute. A defensive breakdown allowed Oubre a wide open path to the hoop for a dunk with 67 seconds remaining that provided a 61-57 lead. A Horned Frogs turnover then led to a lob dunk by Landen Lucas for a 63-57 lead at 0:27.
While Ellis didn’t play for KU, TCU had to make do with leading scorer Kyan Anderson limited by foul trouble. He picked up his fourth foul with 15:58 remaining and went to the bench. When he returned, he lasted just 39 seconds before fouling out making an ill-advised hustle play 30 feet from the basket.
"Kyan is a big part of what we do, so not to have him out here was really tough,” said Ziegler, who had 20 points and eight of his team’s 15 turnovers. “(We) usually share the ball-handling responsibility for our team. It sort of got put in my hands the whole second half."
Lucas finished with 13 points, the only other Kansas player in double figures.
"We're just kind of make-shifting," Self said. "Today was a good game for us in this regard because we had to play a way we haven't practiced very much at all. You figure out how to win by defending, rebounding.”