Kansas guard AJ Storr (2) gets inside for a bucket against UCF during the first half on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas City, Mo. — The Kansas men’s basketball team found out — as the college basketball adage goes — just how hard it is to beat the same opponent three times.

KU appeared set to coast to victory in its first game of the Big 12 tournament against UCF on Wednesday night when it took a 61-48 lead on a 3-pointer by AJ Storr with just under 14 minutes remaining.

The No. 14 seed Knights, who had just beaten Utah thanks to a 22-1 run on Tuesday, erased KU’s lead with a 3-point bombardment. The Jayhawks battled back to go ahead late before conceding a game-tying 3 to UCF’s Jordan Ivy-Curry in the final minute.

Faced with its second overtime game of the season, KU managed to preserve its chances in the Big 12 tournament. Moustapha Thiam came up short on a potential game-tying right-block floater in the final seconds of overtime, and the Jayhawks survived the Knights, 98-94, at the T-Mobile Center.

Zeke Mayo scored 24 points and added eight rebounds to lead the Jayhawks, who survived Dajuan Harris Jr. and Storr both fouling out in overtime. Storr scored a season-high 19, while Hunter Dickinson posted a 23-point, 13-rebound double-double and KJ Adams added 15 and seven boards.

KU coach Bill Self said postgame that he had been “told by a third party, ‘I got a good feeling about AJ Storr,'” and agreed with the assessment. He even said to Storr during shootaround that he thought he’d get a double-double during the game, “and he didn’t do that but certainly he scored the ball really well.”

“It seems like to me in years when we’ve done well in the postseason, we’ve had an unexpected guy kind of come through,” Self said. “Nobody expected Malik Newman to do what he did, nobody expected Remy (Martin) to do what he did, and even though this isn’t exactly an Elite Eight game tonight, but there’s absolutely no reason why AJ can’t be that guy for us.”

Added Mayo: “I thought he did fantastic. We’ve known that he could score the ball like that. This was a great game for him, coming-out party for sure. We needed every bucket. As long as he stays aggressive I’m sure we will live with the results.”

Adams drew the tough defensive assignment on Keyshawn Hall, who posted 25 points to lead all players. Darius Johnson added 22 before fouling out himself.

For KU, Mayo opened the scoring with consecutive 3-pointers and a floater for a solo 8-0 run that forced an early timeout by UCF, as all other players in the game were a combined 0-for-7.

After the break, Johnson got the Knights on the board with a pair of elegant drives into the paint. The Jayhawks’ offense ran out of steam and Hall drained a 3-pointer over Flory Bidunga to tie the game at 16.

The long-dormant Storr, who hadn’t scored in double figures since Jan. 22, gave KU a spark off the bench with a trio of tough shots and an assist to Dickinson.

“I think it just started off me attacking the rim,” Storr said. “When I attack the rim first and see the ball go through the hole, I feel more comfortable shooting outside.”

However, Hall continued to torment anyone who switched onto him defensively other than Adams.

“We tried to switch ball screens early, which put different guys on him and that wasn’t very smart,” Self said, so we tried to play straight the second half.”

KU went back up six points on a physical three-point play by Adams, and Bidunga gave the Jayhawks a slew of second-chance opportunities with hard-won offensive rebounds.

“I’ve been working with coach (Norm Roberts), shoutout to Coach Rob, on those things,” Bidunga said, “just rebounding, go straight up with my left hand.”

After Hall hit a 3 to cut UCF’s deficit to 34-32 and force a timeout by Self, the Knights briefly and unsuccessfully went to a zone that they had deployed to some effect against Utah. Storr contributed again with a left-wing 3 of his own, but Thiam scored a pair of key buckets for the Knights in the final stages of the half and KU botched its end-of-half play.

Hall immediately evened the score with another 3 on UCF’s first possession of the second half.

Dickinson, who had been limited to three points in the first half, scored 10 points, including a pair of 3s, as part of a 15-6 run. He also assisted when David Coit connected from the corner, and Storr followed suit from the same corner out of a UCF timeout.

“I’m on the second unit with him every day, and I stay after workout every single day, he’s in there,” Coit said of Storr. “It’s something I’ve been telling my family, my friends: I know he can do that. I know he can do that every night. He’s that special, he’s that good, so seeing it happen, it’s really good for him, he needed that and we needed it too. So no better time to show up than in March.”

Storr’s bucket gave KU its largest lead of the night at 13 points, but the Knights found a response with 3-pointers of their own from Thiam, Dallan “Deebo” Coleman and Tyler Hendricks and took their first lead of the night with 9:20 to go.

“I think we had to fix our energy and I think that was really the reason for them coming back,” Coit said. “And the whole game was just up and down. Our energy wasn’t really up and down, it was nonexistent to be honest.”

The Jayhawks trailed by three when they used a four-point possession, aided by a flagrant 1 foul on Johnson, to claim the lead, and then Harris set up Adams for a transition dunk to make it 74-71 in KU’s favor.

KU managed to claw its way to a two-possession lead, but Hall cut it to one point when he corralled a loose ball in the corner and sank his fourth 3 of the night.

A series of fouls put both teams in the bonus as they traded free throws. With 1:13 to go and the Jayhawks ahead 81-80, Johnson fouled out trying to guard Adams in the post. Adams made both shots from the line, and Thiam bounced the ball past a teammate and out of bounds.

KU had the ball inside of a minute left with a chance to go up two scores, but Adams’ attempt at a pull-up jumper rattled out, and Ivy-Curry drained a straight-on 3 to tie the game.

The Jayhawks had possession with 9.6 seconds left, but Adams stepped out of bounds trying to pass to a teammate on a botched play. With 4.3 seconds of their own, the Knights couldn’t get a great look for Ivy-Curry, who airballed a contested 3 to send the game to overtime.

“We haven’t executed, I don’t think, near as well like past teams have in crucial situations like that,” Self said.

The Jayhawks led 88-85 with 3:10 to go in overtime when Harris fouled out himself, bringing Coit into action.

Storr briefly gave KU a five-point lead with a transition layup, but the Knights had another response from beyond the arc, this time by Nils Machovski.

With 27 seconds to go, Hall was charging down the court in an attempt to tie the game, only to fumble the ball away when Adams managed to get back in transition.

“He’s always going to bring it, no matter what his matchup is,” Harris said. “… We played them last time in Allen (on Jan. 28), KJ got the big stop, you know, he got the big stop again.”

Storr made a pair of free throws to put KU up 94-90, but then he fouled Ivy-Curry. Not only was it his fifth of the night, but it yielded a three-point play.

After Thiam’s miss, Dickinson made one of two free throws to leave the door open for the Knights.

Coleman made his first, but his attempt to miss the second didn’t hit the rim. Coit made the final two shots from the line.

KU advances to play No. 3 seed Arizona on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. The Jayhawks beat the Wildcats 83-76 in Lawrence on Saturday.

“It’s kind of hard to beat a team twice, and you know they’re going to be gunning for us,” Harris said. “They’re going to have a lot of rest, they probably watched the game tonight. Really, we just got to focus on ourselves.”

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