Kansas beats Miami, makes it to the 16th quarterfinals – CBS Baltimore

CHICAGO (AP) – Ochai Agbaji, David McCormack and Christian Braun delivered a brilliant second half for Kansas, and the top-seeded Jayhawks beat Miami 76-50 on Sunday to advance to the show’s 16th Finals.

Agbaji scored 18, McCormack had 15 and Braun finished with 12, giving Kansas a rebound from a lackluster start. The Jayhawks took a six-point lead after halftime but overtook Miami 47-15 in the final 20 minutes.

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Kansas (32-6), the only remaining #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, won the Midwest Region for the 13th time with a ninth straight win overall. This is followed by a national semi-final and a game against Villanova on Saturday in New Orleans.

This was the fourth Final for coach Bill Self in his 19 seasons at Kansas. The last time the Jayhawks made it to the semifinals, they lost 95-79 to coach Jay Wright and the Wildcats in 2018.

Kameron McGusty scored 18 points and Isaiah Wong had 15 points for 10th seed Miami in the show’s first appearance in the Elite Eight. The Hurricanes (November 26) have bid to bring coach Jim Larrañaga back to the Final Round 4 for the first time since he led 11th seed George Mason there in 2006.

McGusty spent two seasons at Oklahoma before moving to Miami, averaging 13.5 points in four games against Kansas. And he looks pretty comfortable against the Jayhawks again.

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The redshirt’s senior keeper scored 14 points to give the Hurricanes a 35-29 lead at halftime. But everything changed after the break.

With McCormack established on the inside and Braun and Ogbai starting to dominate, Kansas took a 25-7 lead over Miami in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

Jalen Wilson made two fouls and Agbaji connected from 3 to lift the Jayhawks 54-42 lead with 10:14 left. And the champions of the Big 12 just kept rolling.

A dunk from Agbaji took the lead 10-0 and made it 67-46 with 4:35 remaining, much to the delight of the Kansas-supporting crowd at the United Center. Agbaji’s A 3 extends the gap to 23 points with 1:58 remaining.

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